Kitchen
by Remus-Chocolade
Summary: Heartbroken, George and Nox end up in the kitchen at Weasley Manor with enough booze to drown a horse, which end up having a much, much deeper impact on their lives than either of them would've dreamed of. Based on Starkiller's TVPD universe.
1. A Drunken Encounter

**AN: So, this thing shouldn't have been written at all, but Starkiller kinda dared me to, and the Weasleys wouldn't get out of my head, so plainly I had to write it. It isn't meant to be great, it isn't even meant to be good, I just had to get it out of my head and get some creative juices flowing. It's a roller-coaster of emotions most soap operas can't compare with, and there's most likely some out-of-characterness some places, but let's just flow with it now. It takes place after the 28th chapter of Twin Vice Paranormal Detectives and the situation is based of a lot of events there. Nox belongs to Starkiller, and the rest belongs to Rowling. (Maybe I'll add ANs to the rest of the chapters, which vary in length, sometimes later.) The title of the story is simply because a good deal of it seems to take place in the kitchen, so if someone got a better suggestion, please suggest!**

**Now, ladies and gentlemen, faster your seat belts, this is gonna be a wild ride!**

* * *

><p>George entered the kitchen of Weasley Manor, expecting to be left alone at such a late hour, only to find Nox sitting by the table, her elbows on the rough surface of it and cradling a tea cup between pale hands.<p>

"Bit late, isn't it?" he tried carefully, since the smell of tea hadn't reached his nose, but rather the strong smell of whisky.

"Bit late," she repeated and sniffed. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her nose running slightly. "Bit old to be doing stupid things, too."

"Ah, never too old for that," he retorted half-cheerily, displaying the bottle of Firewhisky he had held hidden behind his thigh since discovering her. "Care to join me?"

"It'll be you joining me," she said flatly, not looking up from the cup. "But feel free." He quickly got a glass and pulled out a chair, in the process discovering where she had hidden her bottle. It was plainly not her first cup-full; he remembered the bottle having been opened, but definitively not half-empty. He sat down and decided he might as well help her empty the first bottle before opening the one he had brought.

"So what stupid things have you got up to lately?" he asked after they had sipped in silence for a few minutes and she had refilled the china cup. She hunched her shoulders at the question. "Anything to do with your Gran? You didn't behead her or anything, did you?"

"No," she answered, anger boiling just under the surface.

"Did Fred try to behead her, then? I know he's getting tired of being the only dead person around." He raised his glass to take another sip, then carefully set it down again as he saw the murderous look in her eyes. "So Fred did do something?"

"No!" Her hands tightened on the cup and he quickly swallowed what was left in his glass, if she was going to get violent he might as well get a bit of anaesthesia first. She'd got such a good head start he doubted it would impair his movement enough to make him an easy victim in a fight.

"So... he didn't do something and you're angry about it?" he ventured carefully, knowing he was on thin ice whatever the answer was.

"Yes!" she almost screamed and sat the cup hard down on the table.

"And he should've done it," he answered, in the hope that a statement would make him sound less clueless.

"No, he bloody shouldn't!" She got ready to hurl the cup at the wall, but he grabbed her wrist firmly before she could get close to completing the motion.

"You really shouldn't," he said firmly, brows lowered, and eyes firmly fixed on hers, as if she was a small child throwing a tantrum. She let him set the cup down again, aware his fingers were digging into her wrist, and not able to break the gaze he held her with, and that she must have looked like a scared child in those seconds before the china touched the wood again. Whatever reason for not throwing the cup, it was a good one, and after what she'd seen in the wizard world she wasn't about to question his judgement. "Now, what did my air-headed brother not do, that he shouldn't have done anyway?"

"Nothing." Her shoulders hunched up to her ears again.

"Nothing?" He raised his brows and leaned back. "Nothing, really?"

"Maybe he should have, but he didn't, and I shouldn't have either, in the first place," she said, hardly aware she said the words before they were out.

"Yes, well, that makes it all that much clearer." He ran a hand through his hair and filled both the glass and cup again, maybe some lubrication would make the whole tale come forward. Or it could make her even less coherent, but probably lead to some sort of stupor in the end, meaning he didn't have to deal with her sorrows while drowning his own.

"I kissed him!" she burst out at last and covered her face with her hands.

"Who, Fred?" George asked, quickly gaining interest. At least it was a very good distraction. Nox groaned miserably. "You mean, a quick peck on the cheek, or downright sno..." The way her body sagged together on the chair supplied the answer. "Good Merlin." She moaned.

"And he didn't return it. He did not return it." She came out from behind her hands to take a new gulp of whisky.

"Well, why wou–" George quickly converted what he was about to say to a cough, but didn't escape her icy glare. "I'm sure he was just surprised."

"Surprised, my arse! He didn't return it because he didn't want to return it. And while on the subject, what are you doing down here?" She was getting louder and louder, and George fleetingly wondered how much either of them had drunk if they were on the subject of him.

"Ironically, I thought I was miserable without a woman in my life, but when seeing you..." He didn't finish the statement and didn't look at her out of a certain fear of being turned to stone on the spot.

"Luna's engaged, you know."

"Who said anything about Luna? What if I'm just suffering a general attack of unsatisfied lust?"

"Yeah, what if." She snorted and poured herself another drink, spilling quite a lot on the table. "The way you said 'a woman'. You meant a specific one, not just any old hag. And she's defene... difini... absolutely the one you've been spending most time with lately." She gave him a triumphant look and he glared back.

"As you said, she's engaged." He filled up his own glass and finished it off in two swallows, not sacrificing a single thought to the hangover he would have come morning.

"And not to you."

"Not to me, quite correctly."

"And–"

"Merlin's beard, Nox, do you have to rub any more salt in the wound now?" He was almost on the edge of getting angry and felt something burn behind his eyelids. She nodded mutely and emptied her cup. "At least I didn't do something as harebrained as kiss her!"

"Well, it wasn't completely unprovoked," she defended herself with.

George let out a bark of a laugh and said, "After all this time I thought you were pretty immune to his charms."

"Charms? Is that what you call being a complete idiot?"

"What on earth did he do?"

"He... well, he just... mmphmm." She drowned the rest of the sentence in more whisky.

"Of course he did," George retorted sarcastically. "After all, all woman go balooba after a bit of mmphmm."

"For once he didn't act like such a complete idiot!" Nox burst out, and reminded herself in the nick of time she shouldn't throw the cup, for whatever reason.

"So when he's not acting like himself, you suddenly need to snog him, but when he is, you'd kill him if he wasn't already dead?" George lifted his eyebrows challenging at her.

"Did you just admit your brother is a complete idiot?" A smile was slowly growing on her lips.

"Maybe not complete, but at times..." He mirrored the smile. "If he hadn't had me to keep him on a leash he'd never reached puberty. And then you wouldn't have the hots for him, would you?"

"Hopefully not," she agreed and laughed briefly, but it disappeared fast. "How... how is it, to have a ghost as a twin?"

"Not too bad," he said first, then the thought abruptly sobered him up a good deal. "Unnerving at times. It's been five years, but still..." He shook his head, dismissing the thought and stared down in his glass.

"What?" she asked softly, seeing she had discovered a weak point.

"It's just... silly," he said, even softer.

"Tell me," she urged carefully.

"It's just... me and Fred shared a bed up 'til we were teenagers, almost, and the shop, it came with a double bed and we never got around to replacing it. Never saw the reason to, I guess." His voice was hardly audible and she laid a hand on his wrist. "And now... he's just thin air. Cold air. Loud air, at times, but not something to cuddle up to at night. I know that sounds–"

"No, it's understandable." She had got used to Fred's ghostly state and icy touch, but then again, she'd never known him as anything else.

"Maybe that's part of why I want to... with Luna. Just have something to cuddle up to at night." He was almost certain he had had too much to drink, but finished the glass nonetheless and filled it up again, as well as the cup.

"No, I don't think so," she stated after a bit of thinking. "You love Fred, but you love Luna in a different way. If it was just a body to cuddle up to you wanted, you could've had me." It was said in a matter-of-factly way, as if the idea of George getting physical with her was as mental as getting physical with a Hungarian Horntail.

They went back to sipping quietly for a few minutes, the last of the conversation having silenced them both. Then George said, "What if I did have you?" She looked back at him with the quiet sort of contemplation that comes with too much drink, where consequences seem non-existent and only the moment matters. Her hand was still resting on his wrist when he leaned in for the kiss.


	2. Hung Over

George was dimly aware that the room was spinning and pitching badly, even without opening his eyes. And opening them would surely kill him one way or another. He was most likely laying half-curled up on his side with his shoulder turned awkwardly under him, but that was all the bodily inventory he was able to do.

"Oy!" The sound split his head, and the small movement of his twitching jarred it further. "What the hell did you two get up to last night?" He carefully lifted his eyelids enough to let in a slit of light, and promptly regretted it.

"None of your business." He wasn't sure he had voiced the words out loud, but even if he hadn't, his twin didn't ask anything more. Or made any further sounds at all. Maybe he had left. George faintly registered the clammy feel of the kitchen tile under his cheek and the small breath of air caressing his naked back before launching into a new stupor.

**OoO**

At last he did regain full consciousness, but wasn't much happy about it. Even just laying down held the very real possibility of his stomach turning, but his shoulder was killing him, crushed between the weight of his body and the floor as it was. Slowly, very slowly, he braced one hand on the tiles and lifted his torso enough to free it, still not opening his eyes. He had tried briefly before discovering just how unhappy his shoulder was with the position, and the experience left a lot to be desired.

Well, now what? He couldn't hold himself up with one arm all day, it was already trembling. It was either roll over on his back, in which case he would choke if the movement made him puke, or sit up. Even slower than before, he rolled himself together and rocked carefully up, feeling his brain slosh and tumble around in his skull, and ended up sitting in a fetal position, his cheeks resting on his knees. His stomach seemed strangely happy with the new position, but he wasn't fooled, it would get back to him shortly.

After sitting like that for a while, with no real idea of time, he carefully opened his eyes. The sunshine bouncing off the tiles promptly blinded him, his eyes began to water, and he felt like he had swallowed a dozen live octopi.

He tried looking away, find a corner where the light didn't reach. His clothes lied scattered around and he had by this time realised he didn't have a stitch on. His shirt was a hump of blinding colour, and still moving as carefully as possible, groaning now and then, he made his way the few feet over to it. Nox was laying under it.

He poked her in the back, balancing precariously on one hand and both knees, the room hadn't stopped moving even though he had. She let out a very unwomanly fart, but didn't move. He jabbed harder and succeeded in making her roll over on her back, squint up at him and throw her arm over her eyes with a groan as the light hit her.

"We're naked," he croaked. It was possibly the least helpful thing to say, but the only he could think of.

"I'm sore," she retorted, which wasn't much more helpful, laying on the floor with a tremendous hangover tended to make you feel sore in places you didn't know you had. George was pretty sure the octopi had attacked his appendix. "Which would indicate we shagged."

"What?" he answered dumbly, too many calculations running through his head and making him even dizzier, several of them including Luna and Fred, and for some reason skeletal mice, which he at present time couldn't remember where he got from.

"Add in that we're both naked –" She didn't have time to finish the statement before his stomach turned, giving him hardly enough warning to turn away from her.


	3. Bad Cooking

"I'm never, ever, _ever_ letting you cook again!" Nox was fiercely hugging the toilet bowl with both arms in the hopes of hanging on to some shred of reality. The twins had claimed it was scrambled egg, but it hardly looked better coming up than going down, and that didn't give them any more points in her book. "If you as much as_ touch_ the stove..." She panted fiercely before her body dispelled the last shreds of breakfast.

"Like you're that much better," Fred said, leaning against the wall out in the hall, and she was sure he took a perverted joy in seeing her being miserable. "And Luna didn't think there was anything wrong with it."

"I'm sure she was just being polite," Nox answered coldly as she staggered to her feet and rinsed out her mouth.

"Yes, Luna's really into that lying for politeness' sake thing," he retorted and drifted down the hall again. Nox snorted, trying to gather her wits and not get worked up over him. She gave in and knocked the toothbrush on the sink down on the floor and glowered at it.

"Stupid ass," she muttered before splashing some water in her face and wiping it furiously. Fred had only got worse in the weeks after discovering her and George naked in the kitchen. She wasn't sure if she blamed him or not. They had not discussed the matter, not even mentioned it in a fleeting remark. Fred had got passive-aggressive against both of them, and Nox and George had been painfully polite to each other.

There wasn't even anything to discuss! It was a very stupid, very drunken mistake, and the few memories of it Nox had of it she did her best to suppress. The only obvious sign was that their group dynamic had been ruined. Nox didn't even know they had had such a thing, but it was gone now. Strangely enough Luna hadn't commented on it either, but sometimes she fixed those large moon-like eyes of hers on Nox, wordlessly telling her she knew something had happened, and she, Luna, wasn't happy about it.

Rinsing her mouth again, wondering if the bitter taste was due to the thoughts or the bile, Nox prepared herself to search the house for something safely edible.


	4. Big News

"You're what?" Fred's eyes looked quite ready to pop out of his transparent head, and Nox tightened her hands on the china cup, this time filled with plain tea.

"You heard me," she retorted through thin lips.

"Yes, we did, but – how?" George wasn't any less flabbergasted than his twin and every bone in his body seems to have turned to water, making him sag down on the chair. His lunch, quite edible in every aspect, laid half-eaten in front of him and he pushed it away, having lost all trace of an appetite.

"How does one usually get pregnant?" Her voice was dangerously low, and George got his legs under him, watery bones or no, after long association of that tone in his mother's voice.

"You mean – no – I can't – it –" He stopped stuttering, his jaw hanging open.

"You most assuredly can!" she thundered, and Fred jumped a pace back.

"No!" George refused to believe it and got to his feet to pace the length of the kitchen. "No!" He slammed his fist down on the table in front of her.

"Oh, yes!" She jumped to her feet, her voice shrill.

"No!" He roared and pushed her. He didn't mean to get violent, but the idea that their drunken mistake should result in this, he was not having it!

"I guess it was the tooth fairy, then!" she hissed back, no more happy about the outcome of things, but having come to some terms with the reality of it.

"No way of knowing with you, is there?" he retorted, whipping away from her, but she dug her fingers into his biceps to turn him right back around.

"That's outrageous! You are the only candidate, I can firmly assure you!"

"Oh, so you don't open your legs for any old chap happening by?" Fred quipped in. She turned to him and glared daggers, giving George the second he needed to escape out the door. "Hey, if you're going to Mum's to tell her the happy news, bring back some chicken stew, would you?" Fred called jeeringly after his twin a second before the entrance door slammed shut. He heard Nox suck air through her teeth, then thought better of whatever she was about to say, and she too exited the kitchen.


	5. A Talk With Luna

"Well, what do you propose?" Nox was laying on her back on an old couch, the book in her hands mostly forgotten and the few lines she'd managed to read having fled her head long ago. It was surely not a sign of good mental health to be talking to one's own belly, but having been left alone, the only company she had was the slowly growing content of her uterus.

"I'm not apologising, just so you know." She quirked her eyebrows, but no answer came. "And if it hadn't happen you wouldn't be here at all, so you should be gay pleased." She snorted and put the book down, laying her hands over the growing child. It was far too early for it to move, but she had a strange feeling of exactly where it was, too. A tenderness she could almost confuse with period cramps, except it didn't hurt.

It had been a week since she told the twins, and if she thought it was bad with Fred's snide comments before and George's reserved politeness, it was still a lot better than having them both ignore her. They even refused for the most part to be in the same room with her, and if they absolutely had to, they would focus their attention on someone or something else. But not each other.

She had told Caithion, because with her father gone and presumably dead, he was the only thing close to family she had. She could probably hunt down her mother somehow, only to be told that she was as irresponsible as her father, and needed something to get her head out of the clouds. Too bad an innocent child had to suffer for her mistakes. Telling her mother the child's father was a wizard, and she'd find herself in a locked mental ward before she could blink.

No, at least Caithion had only nodded and asked if she meant to keep it, showing no more emotion than if he had asked if she wanted her toast buttered. The possibility hadn't even occurred to her before he had asked, and by that time it was too late either way. The morning sickness, which she had all to easily blamed on the twins' cooking, had luckily passed in a week, and by the time she's become worried about the other subtle changes in her body and dragged herself to a doctor, got the results and manned herself up to tell the twins, it had been too far gone for any termination to be legal. Not that she was sure she liked the thought of it, had it been an option.

It was bloody inconvenient, of course. She had never seen herself as ever becoming a mother and had more than enough taking care of herself. She liked just having to take care of herself, and not be bothered with everyone else's problems and unintentional attempts to do themselves in. Hell, she'd even thrown away the idea of getting a dog when realising she had to walk and feed it! A child was a good deal more, for a good many more years.

Still... the thrill of pregnancy had settled in even before she knew that was what it was. It had began as a tiny glow deep within her, and even if it sounded daft to her own ears, it was exciting to share her body with another tiny being. Not that she thought it wise to put such a romantic spin on it, and mentally slapped herself.

For one, she had zero knowledge about babies. Just seeing one on the telly usually gave her a queer feeling. They weren't people, but damned if they were anything else, either! She had just never understood what was so cute about a wrinkly mass of flailing limbs that either pooped or screamed. Or both.

Secondly, she was alone, as George had made no move to claim as much as a shred of responsibility. She guessed it laid in his genes, or something. A life as a single mother couldn't be easy, from what she had heard, but never paid attention to. On the other hand, she wasn't sure she wanted to see what counted as good parenting from a man that would willingly run after a rabid werewolf.

"Well, we don't need him anyway," she stated loudly to her belly as the door to the study opened and Luna drifted in. Nox wondered how she had found her, as Nox herself wasn't quite sure how she had stumbled over the old-fashioned study. Weasley Manor held too many secrets to make Nox comfortable most of the time, but it did happen that she found it useful, too.

"Who are you talking to?" Luna asked as she sat down in the chair beside Nox.

"Gizmo," Nox replied dryly and straggled upwards into a sitting position. "You heard I have a bun in the oven?"

"Fred mentioned something to that effect the other day," she answered, pleating the fabric of her skirt between her fingers.

"He mentioned he's the uncle of said bun?" Nox heard her voice was bitter, but didn't bother looking apologetic for it, Luna wouldn't mind her mood.

"No, he didn't," Luna answered, her eyes drifting up to the ceiling. "Which one is it?"

"Which one –" Nox stared at her.

"He's got five brothers, you know. I hope it isn't Bill, with him already being married." She didn't seem too put off by the thought, but it put Nox more than a bit off. Fine, she hadn't been dating either of them, but that Nox should've had an affair with someone she'd seen once or twice in her life... "If it's Percy you should be good off, he's a very honourable man." Well, maybe that was a tad more realistic, but Nox still felt like the room had tilted ninety degrees.

"N-no, it's George," she stuttered, before Luna should get time to complete her list of the three others' characteristics. Luna's eyes, already wide, now showed a good deal of the whites all around. "We were drunk, it wasn't supposed to – I mean, it only happened once, and it wasn't planned or anything."

"That's too bad," Luna answered, her eyelids half-lowering and hiding the thoughts usually mirrored in the pools of her eyes.

"Luna, listen," Nox said firmly and took hold of her hand, and the blonde try to jerk it back as it startled her. "We aren't in love and we didn't want it to happen and if I could go back and undo it, I would. I was messed up over Fred, the idiot that I am, and George was – " It came to Nox that she couldn't very well spill the beans about George's feelings when the realisation of them was just what got them into this mess. "He was sad about Fred being dead," she ended lamely instead. It wasn't a direct lie, but it was far from the whole truth.

"You're still having a child together," Luna said after a minute of silence and fixed her eyes on Nox. "Will you get married?" The question all but stopped Nox's heart and for a dizzying moment she could see herself and George stand before a minister, uttering the much-used 'in sickness and in health.' Her jaw was hanging open, and she tried forming words, but it seemed her lips had quite forgotten how. "I guess that's a no, then." Luna carefully laid Nox's hand back in her own lap and exited, leaving her gaping like a landed trout.


	6. Planning For Something Unplanned

In the end, it didn't seem Luna took the news too bad. She came back the next day, much restored of her usual mood, and bringing several magazines selling babies clothing and equipment. The shock of it made Nox bolt out of her chair and promptly pass out. Coming around again to see Luna fanning her with one of the magazines and the twins peeking in through the door, Nox cursed the kitchen floor throughout in her head and vowed she would never lie on it ever again, if she had a saying in the matter.

"Now, if you weren't looking like such a wreck, you'd slip right into a Victorian time novel," Fred commented.

"Thought someone had let the ogre out, with a bang like that," George muttered before retracting again with his brother.

"Damn it, he's right," Nox admitted, deflated, untimely pregnancies and faintings had a tendency to be the content of a lot of the cheeper sort of Victorian novels.

"Are you all right?" Luna had stopped the fanning to get a wet cloth and began mopping Nox's forehead and temples.

"As much as I can be," she answered and glowered downward. As she was laying straight on her back the best look of the extra occupant she could get was her crotch, and experienced an even more untimely surge of lust as a memory of what George had done down there jumped up from her subconscious. Blushing, she laid back down and let her face be mopped. "Why'd you bring those for?" She waved a hand at the edge of the table where Luna had hastily deposited the catalogues.

"Well, it's never too early to begin planning for something unplanned, is it?" It didn't make remotely sense to Nox, but she struggled up and felt the lump at the back of her head. If she ever got a place for herself, she was wrapping everything and anything she might bump into in bubble-wrap.

"If you say so." She found her chair again and cradled the mug of unfinished tea in her hands. Luna sat down opposite her and stacked the magazines neatly together again.

"Since you aren't marrying George I thought I could help out a bit. Neither of you seems to have the spark of parenting," Luna stated. Nox choked on her tea, spewed a good part of it on the table and coughed violently. "You are sure you're all right?"

"No," Nox croaked, sounding like a stepped-on pig's bladder. Damn if the woman hadn't just in the last few minutes made her realise she wouldn't stay slightly pregnant forever, she would have to raise the damn thing. It wasn't that she hadn't known it, of course she had, but she hadn't really realised she would be knee-deep in dirty diapers and tiny sweaters pretty soon. And now she could clearly see how badly it would suit her.

"Single parents can do good, too, my father raised me alone from I was nine, and there's nothing wrong with me." Luna hardly got to finish the statement before Nox unexpectedly broke out in sobs. Some tiny part of her told her to stop it right this second, it was just hormones, but the rest of her felt it was hopeless, everything was hopeless, both herself and Luna should be displayed at the Zoo, not allowed to mingle with the rest of the population. Damn good job both their fathers had done in bringing them up. And surely little Gizmo would be even worse off, if they were to raise him together.

"Shh, it'll be all right," Luna whispered, having got up and cradled Nox to her bosom.

"No, it won't!" Nox bawled, clawing on to the blonde and wishing her father was there to make some half-lame joke of it. Even though his parenting had had its flaws, he could always make her feel it would end well, no matter how bad the situation. "I won't even be able to feed him, I don't have any boobs!" Nox bellowed, having had her face lodged between Luna's breasts for a while.

"Don't worry, they'll grow," Luna assured her and stroked her hair.

"Now the ogre is out!" George stomped into the kitchen, shortly followed by Fred, and both of then stopped dead, their faces comically blank for a moment.

"Luna, what did you do?" Fred demanded mock-sternly, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I just think Nox is having a slight case of –" Luna began.

"Stupidity," Nox finished for her, before she was diagnosed with Blibbering Humdingers in her tear-ducts or something similar.

"Had a lot of that lately, haven't you? Think I have a remedy for that." Fred's grin was audible in his voice and Nox was almost glad she was still submerged in the folds of Luna's dress, silly as it might look.

"Not interested," Nox retorted through gritted teeth. A pair of strong hands took hold of her shoulders and leaned her back. She tried keeping hold of Luna, but the sleek fabric ran through her fingers as the witch stepped back and she was left looking up in the upside-down face of George, him having got a good grip on her chin and tilted her head back.

"If it's anything to do with Peanut, tell me," he demanded, not a trace of mockery in his voice or expression.

"Peanut?" she asked dumbly. Having got over the bout of crying her head felt filled with cotton.

"The kid," he clarified. She tried avoiding his eyes and was left staring at his throat, seeing him swallow.

"I... I didn't really..." She tried to find a good way of putting it, but telling something you thought they didn't give a rat's tail about their own offspring was a bit hard when they were in a very good position to wring your neck.

"She assumed you wanted to keep your distance," Luna helped out. "And assumptions never lead to anything good." Grateful as she was for the first statement, Nox wasn't quite as pleased with the last, as it didn't put her wits in the best light.

"Merlin's pants, Nox," George said and let go of her head to sit down beside her. She turned to see him resting his forehead on his hand. "What the hell do you take me for? Sure, I wasn't best pleased with the arrangement at first, but... if I was going to kick you out, don't you think I'd fire you first?" Nox couldn't argue with that logic, if they were going to keep working together they couldn't ignore she had a child and that he was the father.

"It'd be a bit like trimming your nose hair with the nail clipper," Luna offered, having plainly suspected George would come around sooner or later. Nox snorted, not liking the idea that she had the completely wrong end of the stick.

"We've been talking, me and Fred. Well, I've been talking and he's been grunting," George corrected himself, and Fred demonstrated one of the non-committal guttural sounds. "It's not exactly the ideal setting, this pregnancy of yours, but we just have to take it as it comes. It'll be a pain in the arse with your maternity leave, but have it your way."

"_My_ way? This pregnancy of _mine_? I seem to remember you having something to do with it, too," Nox pointed out. George smiled blandly at her and a bit more colour crept into his cheeks, he remembered a bit of that, too.

"What he was supposed to say was that he would be willing to change a few diapers and that like," Fred put in, grinning at his twin.

"Well, that too," George admitted, avoiding everyone's eyes. "I'll help, is just what I wanted to say. Whatever you need. But I won't be, like, your husband." He flushed deeper than she could remember seeing before, which wasn't a lot, but still some hint to his feelings.

"Good, I wouldn't want you to be," Nox answered dryly.

"Something wrong with me?" he challenged.

"No, but you know what I mean." She was beginning to blush herself, not quite comfortable with discussing how deep their feelings for each other might or might not go. There was, possibly, two couples in love in the room, but it wasn't her and George.

"Yeah, I do," he muttered, and straightened his back, then went so pale he made Fred look the picture of ruddy health.

"What?" Luna had hurried over to him and placed a hand on his forehead, then moved down to feel the pulse on his neck.

"I – I – we –" he stuttered weakly. "Mum..."

"Oh, she'll be pleased to hear of this arrangement," Fred commented, breaking out in a malicious grin. "Your funeral, mate."

"No." George looked by this time just as ready to break out in sobs as Nox had been earlier.

"No," she echoed firmly. "She's your mother, she loves you, and she should long ago got used to that you're not doing things the traditional way. And after all, there's lots of families that aren't exactly traditional."

"She's gonna kill me," George whispered, evidently not having heard a word of what Nox had said.

"Cool! You'll haunt with me, then?" Fred asked. George didn't respond.

"She's not going to kill you," Luna said calmly and applied the same method of comfort to him as she had to Nox, pressing his head into her bosom. He promptly pushed her back, holding her at arms length and looking bewildered up at her, then tried to spring from his chair. He didn't have time to get his feet properly under himself before both Nox and Luna got hold of his shoulders and pushed him back down.

"You're staying here," Nox told him and brushed her fringe out of her eyes. "I'll go with you to your mother, and if it's necessary, I'll say I refuse to marry you even though you asked and pleaded. She can blame me." She lowered her brows at him, having seen how much the thought of his mother's reaction had upset him.

"And how much of a man would that make me?" he asked.

"How much of a man have you been these last weeks, ignoring me?" she shot back.

"I've been thinking!"

"Well, you can stop that now." She let go of his shoulder at last and sat down again. "We'll tell your mother we'll be happy as just friends and get through it somehow."

"And I'll help, too," Luna informed him.

"Thanks, Lu," he replied, although not regaining any colour at the thought.

"And I'll teach him all the tricks of the prankster trade," Fred added, cracking his knuckles.

"Poor kid," Nox said, making them all laugh.

"Do we actually know it is a boy?" Fred asked, and Nox realised they had been referring to the child as 'him' by default.

"I sincerely hope it is, 'couse I know nothing about girls," Nox said dryly. With both her and Luna being raised by their fathers and the twins plainly being men, there was a certain lack of feminine influence between the four of them.

"Good thing I do, then," George answered with a glint in his eye.

"You know how to get them in the sack, at least," Fred amended, but it seemed he was referring to earlier encounters. Nox got a bit bothered nonetheless. "What the hell is that?" He had spotted one of the magazines and was pointing at the cover.

"It's a Wrackspurt Whacker," Luna said and picked up the magazine. "These bells here will begin chiming if there's any Wrackspurts around, chasing them away." To Nox it looked like a pretty normal baby gym, but Luna's explanation warmed her a bit anyway. If little Gizmo/Peanut should be threatened by Wrackspurts it was good to have someone on board who knew how to get rid of them.

Surprisingly enough, both twins had a great interest in the catalogues, and after getting over the initial shock of it, Nox was happy to spend a few hours looking, discussing and joking about all the strange things displayed in it. She hoped she didn't have to get half of it, even the Manor would get crowded, but that the four of them could share some quality time together like a family, although a very untraditional one, made her light-headed and happy.

She didn't miss the interaction between Luna and George. He was very reserved at first, seeming scared of having insulted her by getting Nox pregnant, then scared she didn't mind him sleeping with other women because she didn't feel anything for him and desperately trying to do small gallant favours like getting tea for her, then reserved himself that she had appointed herself as parent of the child, no matter what anyone else might think, or who its biological parents were. Luna was after all friends with both the twins and Nox, and wouldn't see harm or hard times come to either of them.

What she completely missed was the way she and Fred was acting towards each other. They were constantly bickering and teasing, but it had a friendly undertone and he didn't say a word about the pregnancy that might hurt her. He got mighty affronted when she said she hoped the child didn't end up redheaded, but chose wisely to only comment flippantly about her own mop of hair.


	7. Family Time

**AN: Now I'm getting pretty sadistic here... and how I love it!**

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><p>"I'm gonna hurl," George said, wringing his hands hard and tripping from foot to foot. "Godric, I'm gonna hurl."<p>

"You're not," Nox told him firmly. To be honest, he didn't look too good, clammy and pale as he was, and it was both amusing and disconcerting to see him that nervous, as he usually had nerves of steel, but this had to be done. They were presently at the Burrow, and had sent Fred out to find Mrs. Weasley, since she and the rest of the extended family had gathered on the lawn to enjoy the admittedly bleak spring sun along with more cakes and pastries than Nox could remember ever seeing before.

"If not, I'm gonna crap my pants," he continued, his voice still shrill. Nox sighed and slapped him, just hard enough to leave a red hand-print on his cheek. He looked sullenly at her and rubbed his hand over the sting.

"Aaaand, I present, the one and only, Molly Weasley!" Fred finished with a flourishing bow and let his mother pass into her own kitchen, looking rather confused at the introduction. Nox heard George swallow hard behind her.

"What's going on?" she asked mildly, and George emitted a pitiful squeak. "Are you all right, George?"

"Er, we just wanted to have a talk with you," Nox said, feeling her own nerves catching up with the situation and her palms began sweating. "Maybe in the sitting room?" George seemed to favour this suggestion, as he bolted through the doorway at once and was seated, hunched over his knees, on the couch when the women followed. Nox sat down beside him as Molly took one of the arm chairs.

"We have a bit of news," Nox began, fighting to keep her voice as level and calm as possible. George squeaked again and she shot him a nasty look.

"Yes?" Mrs. Weasley didn't look any less confused, but Nox wasn't quite so sure she was able to go through with it after all. It was something in those brown eyes that made it very hard for Nox to tell the redheaded witch her next grandchild would be a bastard.

"You see," Nox continued, telling herself it was like ripping off a band-aid, better just get it over with.

"I made her pregnant!" George wailed at this untimely moment, just when Nox was ready to break it nice and slow, looking at his mother like a lost, flea-ridden puppy.

"You what?" Mrs. Weasley's eyes narrowed and Nox had to work not to recoil, even though Molly was looking at her son and not her.

"Mum, I'm sorry!" George continue to wail and buried his face in his hands. Nox wasn't sure he was crying, but he was shaking.

"So, so, dear." Molly had got up and come to sit on the other side of George, putting her arm around his back and stroking his hair. "Hush, I'm sure we'll be able to fix it, somehow."

"I'm sorry, you raised us better than this," George said, muffled into his hands. Nox wasn't sure, but thought that once he had unintentionally invoked her sympathy he had figured he might as well play on it.

"I raised you better than to drop out of school, too, didn't stop you doing that," she commented, smiling slightly. George hiccoughed, and Nox figured if that wasn't real, it was damn good acting.

"How far along are you, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, turning to Nox.

"Almost four months," she answered.

"That doesn't leave us a lot of time," the witch answered, her lips compressing and her eyes taking on a calculating look.

"Time for what?" Nox asked.

"Why, for the wedding, of course," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding as if that was obvious.

"She doesn't want to!" George wailed, making Nox more than a tad annoyed. Well, she said she would take the blame, now she plainly had to.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley looked taken aback, but not yet angry. Nox figured she should feel lucky for that.

"I'm not the marrying kind," she hurried to say, having formed no plan of what she should say if it came to this, as she had thought George had a bit more backbone. "George is a great guy – I'm sure he'd be a good husband, it's just – I'm not marrying, okay?"

"You're not marrying?" Mrs. Weasley hadn't still ignited, but by the way George had drawn his shoulders up to his ears Nox figured it couldn't be long until.

"We – it wasn't planned – not the pregnancy, not the shag –" Nox's choice of words made Mrs. Weasley's lips compress further "– we were drunk, I had – had just heard my father was dead, and George was down about Fred being – being..." She stopped rambling and shut her mouth firmly. It had been close enough for her to say she had been heartbroken over Fred, and George over Luna, which wouldn't help the situation at all.

"So you just bedded her out of – of –" Mrs. Weasley was getting redder in the face by the second and she took a good hold of George's hair to bring his face into view. He looked terrified. "Don't you have any sense of honour?" she thundered. George recoiled and whimpered as it pulled his hair. "You're right, I did raise you better than this!" With that she jumped up and exited the room. George curled up, and this time wasn't pretending to cry. Nox was far too shocked to move.

"That went splendid, didn't it?" Fred drifted through the wall, having had an ear to it through the entire charade. "You okay?" He went over to his twin and placed a hand on his shoulder, but George only shrugged it off. He raised his eyebrows at Nox, but she couldn't do better than shrug, either. At last, having surveyed the scene for a moment, he gestured to the doorway and Nox nodded, maybe George would have best of being left alone for a while.


	8. Big Brother To The Rescue

George didn't have the faintest idea what was going on with him, but he stayed curled up on the couch, feeling the tears slowly dry on his cheeks. He had never before been afraid of his mother and her temper, especially since he and Fred had provoked it intentionally countless times. Well, he was older now, and having a baby was a good deal more serious than shutting a dozen frogs in the bathroom.

Did he have any sense of honour? Yes, he had, but it had been well diluted in whisky when he... He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think of that night. He had been a good boy, not even looking at another woman than Luna for months, then this. Not that Luna knew his feelings, or exactly what he had felt when she pressed him to her bosom. He'd kill for her to do it again! That she saw it as completely innocent comforting and that it made him very excited wasn't the best combination. And, then of course, she was engaged to another man. He wondered briefly how Rolf would see her having appointed herself guardian of George's child, but shed away from the thought.

Where had he got all these thoughts of responsibility and honour anyway? If he wanted to love Luna, he was free to do it. The answer to his question supplied itself in his head; his parents. A woman belonged to her husband, and even if Rolf and Luna wasn't married yet, she was off limits for him. What he wanted was to press her up against a wall, snog her properly, and say, "Hey, if we got married, you'd be Peanut's stepmother, that'll be nice?" Of course he couldn't do that, as he wasn't daft enough to kiss someone just because he fancied them a bit. Nox, on the other hand...

"Knock, knock." The words ripped him out of his rather depressing thoughts and he looked up to find Charlie in the doorway. "How is it?"

"You heard?" George wouldn't be surprised if half the world knew by morning.

"Uh-hum. Mum came out looking ready to explode, and did when Ginny asked her what the matter was. Shouted something about you taking advantage of Nox and getting her with child." Charlie made room for himself on the couch, pushing George's feet out of the way. "Did you?"

"Didn't take advantage of her, but..." George let the sentence tamper off and flipped a hand to indicate the other matter.

"Oh." Charlie nodded calmly. "Are you –"

"We're not a couple, aren't getting married and were very drunk," George said and dragged a hand over his still stinging eyes.

"You look like a mess," Charlie observed quietly. "What the hell did she do to you?"

"Mum? The usual." George sniffed and wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve. "Got angry and accused me of not having any honour."

"Didn't know that was included in the usual," Charlie commented. "Got a special deal on it?"

"I deserve it," George retorted.

"Did you?"

"I got her pregnant, for Godric's sake!" George didn't have enough energy to get angry over it, and didn't fancy the idea of crying his eyes out again.

"Could happen to anyone. It was an accident," Charlie insisted.

"Haven't happened to you, has it?" George spat back.

"That'll be a bit hard," Charlie answered and chuckled. "Haven't slept with a lot of women lately."

"Well, neither have I! Just the one, and I was very drunk." George sat up, bracing his feet against his brother's thigh in case he should feel inclined to kick him. "Wait, what d'you mean, 'not a lot of women'?"

"Just that I haven't slept around," Charlie answered, looking away from George's face.

"No," George said, beginning to grin. "You mean – good heavens – you've slept –"

"No!" Charlie insisted. "I haven't."

"Yes, you have," George teased.

"I'm not gay," Charlie said firmly, but with a small trace of desperation in his voice.

"No?" George's face was split in an ear-to-ear grin, this was exactly what he needed to distract his mother.

"I'm not." Charlie fixed his eyes on George again, and in any other setting the latter would have fled at the dark look in them. "I – damn it. We're a lot of men cooped up for most part of the year with the nearest village sporting nothing but pox-ridden whores Mum's age. What would you've done?"

"Not that," George answered. "So, are you on the receiving or giving end?" The look in Charlie's eyes darkened even more and he got up, making George cover his head with his arms in case his brother should feel a broken nose was fair payment.

"It's the choice of that or going crazy," Charlie told him, holding his anger under control with a lot of effort. "And at least there's no danger of anyone getting pregnant."

"Touché." George sat up properly.

"You're not getting married, after what I understood?"

"No. She fancies Fred," George said a bit coldly. It didn't exactly simplify things, on top of Luna being engaged.

"Technically, that's not a problem, seeing as you have the same genes," Charlie pointed out, seeming a bit too pleased to have moved away from the topic of his bedroom activities.

"Well, we're the same size," George retorted, slightly confused, and Charlie promptly chuffed him over the head.

"DNA, idiot, not trousers." Charlie sat down again and George suspected he would only get more confused of what he was about to hear. "You and Fred and identical, any child either of you father will have the same DNA, the same cook-up, if you want, given the mother is the same." George had been right, it didn't help much.

"So you're saying we're interchangeable?" George quirked an eyebrow at his brother, who nodded. "I'm pretty sure I was the one to shag Nox, though, seeing as Fred isn't equipped with a body at the moment and unable to shag anybody."

"Well, yes," Charlie admitted, and coughed. "What I was more getting at is that Fred could be seen as much as the biological father as you, if he and Nox decided to get together. I guess being a ghost prevents him from marrying her, 'to death do us part', and all that, but unofficially he could be just as much a father as you are."

"You are giving me a headache," George said and rubbed his forehead. "First of all, I'm George and he's Fred, we're not the same person, secondly, I've agreed to help out as much as needed, but if Nox figures she's better off on her own I won't put my nose in her business, and Fred is not allowed to raise my kid!" The last was let out at a louder decibel than he had meant, and he sat panting for a moment. It was his kid, even though both Luna and Fred had agreed to be involved in the upbringing, it was still George's child and he was not giving that up.

"So you'll do it?" Charlie asked.

"I bloody well will!" George suspected his eyes had acquired the dark look Charlie's had had earlier, but didn't care.

"Good." Charlie smiled at him, and George didn't want to know what kind of scheme he had just pulled off, but at least it had erased any doubt of George's honour. "You look like you could use a nap. I'll go outside and be look-out." George wasn't disposed to argue with his brother, he hardly knew up from down any more, and happily tipped back on the couch and even let a light blanket be tucked in around him.

**OoO**

"Psst, you got a fag?" Charlie whipped around on the porch and almost had to laugh at the way Bill was inching around the corner, his eyes darting over his shoulder every moment until he was safely around it, then almost running over to Charlie.

"I thought you quit years ago," he noted as he fished the cigarettes out of his pocket and handed one to his older brother.

"Yeah," Bill replied, neither denying or confirming this, as Charlie lighted them both up.

"You got Mum calmed down?" Not hearing her banshee-like screams, Charlie was pretty sure this was the case, but how they had prevented her from a killing spree (she'd looked more than ready to it when Charlie left), he was a bit curious about.

"Yeah, Dad and Ginny are on the job," Bill answered and sighed after inhaling. "Ron and Hermione decamped to find Victoire, she ran away from the noise. Can't say I blame either of them."

"Fleur?"

"Ranting in French. Figured you'd be more understandable company." Bill gave him a sidelong look and Charlie chuckled.

"And you know I smoke."

"And I know you smoke," Bill confirmed. "George's inside?" Charlie nodded soberly. "How is he?"

"A right mess. I don't know what's got into his head, but if it doesn't get out again soon he'll go bonkers. You saw how he wasn't acting himself earlier?" Charlie asked, and Bill nodded, George had been noticeable nervous since arriving at the Burrow.

"No wonder, really, Mum's been nagging him about marriage for quite a time. She somehow thinks that'll make his life complete, or something."

"I can assure you that's exactly what she thinks," Charlie said, as she had been on his own case for quite a few years about growing up, settling down, having children and be done playing bait for the dragons.

"Mum's really overdone herself this time, though, if she got through to him with anything." Bill tapped ash of the cigarette and Charlie shook his head.

"She said something about his honour, and I actually think he's been on the same thought himself. It's not the most responsible thing to do, shag your friend while drunk."

"And you've never ended up in bed with the wrong person? Though, if he respects Nox, that would make sense," Bill agreed.

"You have a very high opinion of him right now, don't you?" Charlie said coldly. "He was freakin' crying his eyes out in there, I'm pretty sure he's got a high respect for Nox and has taken on more responsibility than he needs to."

"Sorry," Bill said and put out the cigarette before flickering the butt into the bushes. "I've only heard Mum's side, and she pretty much made it out that he raped her. Figured I'd go in now and get his side."

"No," Charlie said firmly. "He's sleeping and I said I'd make sure he wasn't disturbed. Directly he's a bit restored I'm making sure he gets home and I'll have a talk with Mum myself."

"This is a new side of the protective big brother," Bill noted with amusement.

"Like you said, I've ended up in bed with the wrong person before, too," Charlie answered. Bill didn't have time to ask what he meant by that as Nox and Fred were making their way over the front yard, Victoire between them.

"Daddy!" His daughter ran towards Bill the moment she spotted him and he squatted down to take her into his arms and lift her up.

"And where have you been?" he asked, not bothering to be annoyed, her mother would tell her what a fright she gave them later.

"Found her halfway down the village," Fred answered.

"And what were you doing there?" Bill tried keeping Victoire from both pulling at his hair and leaving a very unflattering hickey mark on his neck with her excessive kissing and nibbling, but at least she seemed pleased to be reunited with him.

"Figured Mum wouldn't be much company for a while," Fred said nonchalantly with a small shrug.

"You okay?" Charlie asked Nox, as she seemed a bit flustered. She nodded and tried smiling, but made a bad show of it. "Don't mind Mum, she'll come around."

"It's not her I mind, it's George," Nox said. "He could've been more of a help."

"I think he did his best," Charlie offered, and she snorted. "He's pretty much scared witless at the prospect of having a child."

"Well, I'm not overjoyed at it either," Nox answered, but her voice was uncertain and she shot a look at Victoire, still clinging firmly to her father's neck.

"The only reference he really has for being a parent is our own, and there were seven of us, only one who could be described as quiet. Six unruly children and one complaining of the noise is enough to take down the house, and it's a wonder we never did," Charlie said, looking up the wall beside him. "He hasn't yet grasped that he's only having one."

"Who appointed you the title of know-it-all brother?" Bill inquired mildly, having at last managed to persuade Victoire to let go of his hair.

"He is only having the one, though," Nox pointed out.

"Twins runs in families, though," Fred pointed out, grinning at her and giving her midsection a probing look. Bill and Charlie did the same, and Nox had a strong urge to cover her belly with her hands. Being as stick-thin as she was and wearing baggy clothes, not much could be seen, but she no longer required a belt for holding up her trousers.

"He's only having one," she repeated coldly.


	9. Memory Lane

**AN: Last chapter for now, so I hope you enjoy it.**

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><p>"Ugh!" Nox put down her book and began struggling out of the deep armchair with much groaning and flailing of arms, trying to position the bulk of her pregnancy between her thighs until she could get upright.<p>

"And where are you off to now?" Fred inquired lazily, not looking up from the comic book he was sharing with George. Luna had put down the edition of the Quibbler she was reading, but made no move to help Nox until the latter almost toppled over forward.

"Loo," Nox grunted and untangled herself from Luna's clothes, hair and necklace, trying to give her a smile of thanks.

"Didn't you go five minutes ago?" George looked up for a second, seeing Nox rub the small of her back.

"I did. It's not my fault Gizmo got his hands around my bladder and likes squeezing it." She waddled out of the sitting room, about as graceful as a drunk hippopotamus.

"She's gotta be ready to pop soon," Fred said and shook his head.

"Sadly, yes," George said airy. "As much fun as it is to have her blowing a fuse just because I added too much milk in her tea, I'd rather have that than dirty nappies." The tea incident had happened three times thus far, and George still had no idea how much milk she wanted in her tea, or why she couldn't add it herself.

"She's beautiful now. Pregnancy really suits her," Luna said, then ducked behind the Quibbler again. The twins stared at her for a moment, then gave each other identical quizzical looks.

"She looks like a deformed balloon animal," Fred said.

"She's just belly and, well..." George shrugged, hiding behind the comic book.

"And breasts," Luna finished for him, one corner of her mouth tucking up in a smile.

"Oh, I'm not the only one who's noticed?" Fred let out a breath of relief.

"I've noticed, and I've noticed you noticing," his brother told him dryly. It wasn't hard to grasp that there still was something in the air between Fred and Nox, but as of late she had been too busy with her bodily discomforts to pay him much attention. They went back to their reading, quietly enjoying each others' company until Nox came blundering in again and tripped on the edge of the carpet. She barely saved the cereal box she was holding, and cursed the carpet under her breath until she found her chair again.

"Didn't you say that tasted like cardboard?" Fred asked, nodding towards the box she was now pulling handfuls of cereal from and stuffing it in her mouth, hardly having time to chew before she swallowed.

"That was last week," she retorted between mouthfuls. "It's not that bad, after all."

"We're going to Mum's for dinner in an hour, you'll ruin your appetite," George chided, getting up to take the box from her, but she grasped it protectively against her bulk. "And you ate more than enough for lunch."

"I got peckish," she hissed and swatted at his hand as he tried reaching for the cereal.

"Back down, or she'll castrate you," Fred whispered in his brother's ear, having witnessed similar scenarios a few times before, where it had ended with Nox throwing books, plates, cups and anything else she could get her hands on at them. Of course it hadn't hurt Fred much, but George had got a few impressive bruises. How Luna got the idea pregnancy suited Nox, he wasn't sure, but her moods didn't suit the twins much.

"You'll share a bit, though?" George tried carefully. Nox gave him a sceptical look, then held the box out for him to grab a handful. "Bit cardboard-ish, but not too bad," he agreed after trying a bit, then sat down again and tried looking interested in the comic again. Comparing it to cardboard was a compliment to the cardboard, but he liked having all of his anatomy attached and in the right places.

They read for a while longer, only disturbed by the crunching of Nox's eating, then agreed they might as well get going sooner rather than later. Seeing as it took Nox fifteen minutes to change out of the pyjamas trousers she more or less had been living in for the last weeks, to the bit nicer dungarees, the only thing she even considered buying when Luna took her shopping for maternity clothes, it was a wise decision.

They arrived at the Burrow in a jumble, as Nox tripped on a non-existent flaw in the floor and pushed them all into the Floo at the same time. Fred was more inclined to think her match-stick knees simply gave out under her new weight, but didn't voice this idea out loud as he dragged himself free from the bottom of the pile.

"Dear, are you all right?" Molly had come storming in from the sitting room and was helping Nox to her feet again, not sparing the rest as much as a look. After the initial shock, the witch had taken Nox under her wing and had frequently stopped by Weasley Manor with stews, home-baked bread, and anything else edible they might need.

"Yeah, George broke my fall," Nox answered, then got a glassy look in her eyes for a moment. "Everything's quite all right." Molly smiled back at her.

"How many of your ribs did I break?" George asked, having helped Luna to her feet and was now trying to dust off her dress with his hands, then retracted them as he realised he was patting her backside. It was bad enough that he had landed on top of her, he didn't need to feel her up right afterwards.

"None," Luna answered. "You're not as heavy as you look."

"Fred, George, your father wanted your help, he's in the shed," Molly told her sons mildly.

"With what?" Fred asked, having assured himself it wasn't possible for a ghost to break any bones.

"I don't know, but it's got a motor," Molly said, sounding weary but resigned about her husband's antics.

"Does it have the potential of blowing up?" George asked, a spark lighting in his eyes.

"Probably," Molly said, sounding even more fed up of the twins' shenanigans.

"Nox, you stay here with Peanut, me and Fred got this covered," George ordered, rubbing his hands together as he headed towards the door. "Luna, wanna come watch?" He was almost outside already, but craned his neck enough to see her enthusiastic nod and waited for her to catch up, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm.

"'Stay here with...' Can't very well put him down now, can I?" Nox muttered, knowing herself doomed if the child was even half as impossible as the father.

"Peanut?" Molly asked and led Nox into the sitting room.

"Just the nickname he's come up with for the kid. He's Gizmo to me," Nox said, blushing only a little as she sat down on the couch and made herself comfortable with the pillows.

"We never got more imaginative than 'the new one'," Molly told her. "Except Ron, he was 'the last one.' Or so we thought."

"As far as I'm concerned, this is the first one and the last one," Nox said, rocking herself upright to take a look at the photo album on the table, and after a quick look at Molly for confirmation, slowly turned the pages back to the beginning.

"Getting tired of it? So did I, every time. Probably the only thing that made giving birth sound like a good option after the first time was that anything was better than not being able to see my own feet for a second more. The first time I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but Bill was a rather easy birth. He wasn't big and had turned in exactly the right position," Molly told her, sounding rather proud at her firstborn's cleverness.

"Who's that?" Nox knew she should probably respond with her wishes for how heavy Gizmo should be or his position, but had got too caught up in looking at the faded photographs. The one she was pointing at showed a man about twenty years old cooking dinner, half-turned towards the camera and half-turned towards the stove.

"My brother Gideon," Molly answered, moving over to sit beside Nox. "He was two years older than me, died in 1981 fighting – You-Know-Who." She had choked up a bit at the memory, but cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry," Nox said. "He looks like a very nice guy. A bit surprised right there, but nice."

"That would be because it was my other brother Fabian holding the camera. It was supposed to be a wedding present for me and Arthur, a bit late, but Fabian had to make sure it worked, and –" Molly quickly got out a handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of her eyes. "Gideon felt a bit bad about giving us an opened and used gift, but Arthur didn't mind and spend the rest of the day pouring over the instruction manual. I didn't see the what use of it we would have of it right then and there, but..." her fingers caressed her brother's face in the picture.

"Is that you?" Nox asked, pointing at a picture on the opposite page. It didn't seem likely it was anyone else, but the light filtered through the trees over the woman's face obscured it quite a bit.

"Yes, the moment Arthur had figured out how to use the camera with Fabian's help he demanded to take my picture," Molly answered. "And yes, I am pregnant, not just fat," she added as she saw Nox's expression.

"You said it was a wedding gift," Nox said, turning to the witch with arched brows.

"Yes, but it was given a time after the wedding," Molly said, then sighed, making up her mind. "Arthur and I eloped, that's why we didn't get the gift on the day. And the reason we eloped –"

"You were already pregnant," Nox finished for her.

"It's not nice to interrupt," Molly chided her in much the same tone as George had done when she had got a snack earlier, but in contrast, Molly's eyes held a smile. "Yes, I was pregnant, and neither of our families would approve greatly. Plus, it was very romantic. No one seems to have noticed, though."

"What, that you're married with seven children or that you were pregnant before the wedding?"

"That I was pregnant before the wedding. I don't even think Bill noticed the big celebration we had for our thirtieth wedding day happened just a few months before he turned thirty. Sometimes I wonder about their intelligence," she said and shook her head. Nox didn't ask if she meant all her children, just her sons, or men in general.

"But why did you go so hard out on George when..." Nox gestured to her enormous belly, meaning how it had got that way and Molly's reaction when first hearing about it.

"That was wrong of me," the witch admitted. "I never wanted a similar faith to befall my children, me and Arthur had a lot of hard years with little money, although we were happy. And we were in love." The last part was almost whispered and Nox closed her eyes, once again hit with the guilt of how stupid it had been for her to go to bed with George.

"I'm sorry," she said, hardly louder than Molly.

"Don't be," was the answer she got, and her hands enclosed in warmth. "George might not be in love with you, but he loves you nonetheless, and he will never leave his child. I brought him up better than I thought."

"You actually did a pretty decent job," Nox agreed, then turned back to the photo album, flipping slowly through the pages. "Whoa!" At first look she could've sworn it was a picture of one of the twins, standing shirtless on the lawn in front of the Burrow, but on closer inspection she saw the nose and eyes were different. The slightly wavy hair, the posture and the body was pretty much the same, though.

"That's Fabian," Molly explained. "A certain family resemblance, wouldn't you say? It's been more than one time I've accidentally called Fred Fabian when they've got up to something. He was quite a prankster, too, my brother. Didn't make it his living, though." Nox thought she heard a little bitterness in the last remark.

"He could've been their father," Nox commented, the man in the photo looked a good deal more like the twins, especially George, than Arthur did. She began wondering what Gizmo would look like, if he'd get her eyes, George's hair, her stick-thin body or his muscular, her clumsiness or his complete disrespect for rules. As long as it wasn't a combination of the last two, that would be lethal. Or if the kid would somehow end up looking like Percy or her father.

"Now, full-bloods have been known to marry their cousins, but I think their siblings is taking it a bit too far," Molly commented and thumbed a few pages onwards. "Here's some of the twins."

"What are they doing?" Nox said, leaning over the page.

"Eating," Molly pointed out unnecessarily, as both the boys at the age of three or four were covered in spaghetti, one having taken it so far as to place the bowl on his head. "That's the thanks I get for trying to make something new for dinner." She sighed.

Nox leaned back to stare down on her bulk and said, "There's no return policy on you, is there?" Molly laughed and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," she assured Nox. "I was doing fine, too, 'til Percy came along. The house wasn't exactly spotless before, but he definitively tipped the scale from homely untidiness to plain chaos. Most say it's the second that's the problem, but for me it was the third. Then the fourth and fifth. After that I just tried keeping more or less sane until I could start shipping them off to school." Nox wasn't quite sure if that was a comforting thought or not, but nodded and smiled nonetheless.

"Most of them turned out fine," she added when she couldn't go on looking like a jack-o'-lantern any more.

"Most of them?" Molly said challenging, a very familiar gleam in her eyes. Nox almost got scared, if she hadn't seen it for herself she'd never believe the twins got that from their mother.

"All of them," Nox amended. If Fred could forgive her for sleeping with George, she could forgive him for getting confused over a kiss. "But you're Super Mum, so they should."

"I'm what?" Molly looked both shocked and amused.

"The twins has been telling me about a few of your techniques of keeping them in check when they were kids." In all honesty, George had been peppering her with everything from cures for diaper rash to how loud she should scream at the kid to make him listen, and Fred had been scaring the living daylight out of her with some of the things they'd got up to before starting Hogwarts, including climbing on the roof and filling the bathtub with snakes.

"Techniques," Molly said meditatively. "That's putting a fine word on it. I just treated them like I did my brothers when they wouldn't behave. We grew up at our grandmother's, you see, and I ended up in charge for scolding them for all the things she never found out about. I didn't think it was much fun at the time, but it came in as handy practice later."

"Gideon wasn't much well-behaved either?" Nox looked down at a picture of him with one of his nephews, bronze curls falling into his eyes as he peered at something the boy had in his hands.

"Generally, he was," Molly answered. "He just went after Fabian to make sure he didn't break his neck. Big brothers have a tendency of having to do that." She stroke her thumb over a picture of Bill and Charlie in their teens, the latter sporting a split and swollen lip.

"And you still gave him a hard time for it? Poor guy," Nox said, smiling a little.

"I've often felt bad about that later. But it's in the past," Molly said, a bit sad. "They scared me sometimes, and I felt better about yelling at them than crying. When he was younger, I suspected Bill might turn out a lot alike his Uncle Gideon, and he has, but he still hasn't that... calm. I could scream 'til I was red and blue in the face, and Gideon would just take me by the shoulders, give me a shake, tell me nobody got hurt and ask if I wanted some tea." Molly's eyes began leaking again and she dabbed at them with her handkerchief.

"Sounds like the dream man," Nox noted, having been reminded about a character in a romance novel she had read in her youth by the account.

"Quite," Molly agreed and hiccoughed. "He never found himself a girl, though, for some reason. Oh, silly me, here I am holding us both up with things that happened before you were born instead of getting dinner ready. Would you like some tea and biscuits while I do?" Nox would very much like that, as the cereal she had eaten had evaporated some time ago and left a gaping, gurgling hole in its wake.

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><p><strong>AN: This was the most annoying to write, because Molly insisted on talking about Fabian when I wanted her to talk about Gideon. It's important for what shred of a plot there is. And for those wondering, I've never seen Gideon and Fabian to be twins <em>just<em> like Fred and George, and pranksters_ just_ like Fred and George. I want them to have their own stories and their own personalities, although I admitted the twins and Molly's brothers look alike simply because the twins look more like their mother and her side of the family than their father.**


	10. Naming It

**AN: This story isn't just threatening to do me in, it's killing my Mac. It's began lagging something tremendous since I got the document open all the time, but if I close it it takes half an hour to open it the next time. So much fun! At least I'm taking back-up now and then, 'couse I'd be mighty pissed if I suddenly lost it. And you're only getting one chapter right now, because I feel like being evil. **

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><p>"Alfred," Fred suggested, lounging on the sofa opposite Nox. "A nice, respectable name."<p>

"Uh-hm," she agreed dubiously and wiped her fingers on a napkin after finishing the last piece of the pizza she had ordered. "And it's easy to call him Fred Junior, that way."

"Why, you're right!" the ghost exclaimed, making her glare at him for a moment. "Hadn't even occurred to me."

"Like hell it hadn't," she retorted half-humorously and leaned back. "You're impossible at this."

"What? It's you that's impossible, not liking Alastair or Decimus or Sheldon or Primus or Gilbert or Jedediah or –"

"I'm not naming my kid Jedediah!" she exclaimed. "And Jeddy is a horrible nickname." They had been discussing names for well over an hour, and Fred had come up with the strangest things, some she suspected wasn't real names, or even words. She rather wanted somebody else's input, but George and Luna had gone out to eat by themselves after Nox had declined their invitation several times. Fred had plainly picked some signals up, too, as he had volunteered to keep her company, seeing as he couldn't eat anyway. On the other hand, Luna might find Jedediah a nice name and George would agree with his twin just to annoy her.

"Then you come up with something." Fred tucked his hands in behind his head, awaiting. "Any time you're ready."

"Well..." Nox said and sighed, racking her brain. The reason they had began talking about it in the first place was that she had realised they couldn't keep calling the child either Gizmo or Peanut once it was born, but she was completely dry on what his name should be. "I've been thinking a bit about Edward –"

"Little Eddie," Fred interrupted her, tasting the name.

"Hush," she said, placing her hands on her belly, stroking it slowly. "He doesn't feel like an Edward, though." She had got a very good picture of the child's personality over the last months, it was a bit had to share your body with someone else and be woken in the middle of the night by a kick to the kidney without getting to know them a bit.

"Does he feel like an Archibald?" Fred asked, and she glared at him again. "Or a Conrad? Well, what does he feel like?"

"Like a very heavy cannon ball," she answered and jerked a bit as a stomach cramp equal to getting a knife imbedded in one's liver hit her.

"Kicked again?" Fred asked, being familiar with her doubling over now and then as the child tried stretching in the cramping quarters.

"No, I think he's sleeping," she answered, leaning back again. "Maybe there was something funny with that pizza."

"Of course there was something funny with it, it had anchovies," Fred retorted. "And pineapple."

"Still better than anything you've had the last five years," she said, smirking. He flipped her off and settled himself better on his back.

"Oliver, then? You don't get a much more ordinary and boring name than that." He had returned to their previous subject and started to sound tired of it.

"Maybe," she said, massaging her belly, whatever was going on down there wouldn't settle. "Better than anything else you've come up with."

"So my nephew is boring?" Fred swung his feet down on the floor and sat up. "If he's your child that may be the case, but he's also George's kid and that's gonna make him spectacularly un-boring."

"He's gonna be a spectacle, all right," Nox agreed. "Simon and Dwight has a nice ring, too."

"Yeah, if you're rising the school's punch bag," Fred shot back. "Archibald got a better ring to it. Archie the great!"

"Anything with the word 'bald' in it is out," she informed him, drawing her legs as well up to her body as she could in the hope of getting rid of the damned cramps.

"How 'bout Elvendork?" He grinned at her and she snorted.

"Now you're doing it on purpose," she said and reluctantly smiled back. He might be annoying most of the time, but at least he was free entertainment.

"Doing what?"

"Being a complete tosser."

"I'm not a tosser," he said, sounding pretend-hurt. "I'm genuinely trying to help you find a name. If anyone's a tosser it's George's, for buggering off to some fancy restaurant with Luna, leaving me to look after you so you don't trip down the stairs and break your neck."

"I know you're dead, but are you blind too?" She raised an eyebrow at him, then made a face as her belly did a somersault.

"The nerve of some people!" He put his hand to his chest as if mortally wounded, but couldn't keep the corner of his mouth from twitching and gave in and grinned. "No, I'm not. You're okay with it, though?" Luna had broken the engagement with Rolf a few weeks before, as she was more interested in helping raise the child than getting married and maybe having some of her own. Nox didn't complain, it was Luna's decision and without her Nox would have been much more of a nervous wreck concerning raising Gizmo/Peanut, as that seemed to be the name he was stuck with.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Nox answered. "I can't tell either of them not to have a life just because of –" She gestured to her belly, but was cut off mid-motion as her belly rippled enough to be seen through her t-shirt. "And it might benefit me well enough, if they end up together." Luna had more or less moved into the Manor to help Nox with all the details of having a baby she hadn't thought of, and as a result George had got a bit bolder in his moves. Although he hadn't dared going further than suggesting they all went out for a meal together, Nox had helped him with the rest and she was a bit curious of what the little date had resulted in.

"You're sure you're okay?" Fred said, a crease appearing between his brows. Instead of answering, Nox heaved herself up and hurried down the hall to the bathroom. Fred didn't follow, after what she had been eating he had no desire to get close to the toilet for a week if she was heading there.

"Fred!" she called after a while, and against his better judgement he went to see what the matter was, she sounded distressed. He found her leaning on the sink, one hand clutched to her belly. "I think my water broke."

"What, the plumbing's messed up?"

"No, I'm having the baby. Now." She tried sounding calm, but her voice was very close to breaking.

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, a little cliffhanger. But don't worry, I plan on getting Fred back to life before reFredding day, you won't have to wait long. And I had to mention Elvendork, just because.<strong>


	11. Giving Birth

**AN: Since FF . net is being a right bitch right now I can't actually upload anything, which means I have to resort to copy-paste. Besides that, just enjoy!**

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><p>"NNNNGAAAGH!" Nox let out a tremendous howl, gritting her teeth, and collapsed on the hospital bed, too tired to wipe her sweat-soaked fringe out of her eyes.<p>

"Overdoing it won't get the Healers to look at you any sooner," Fred pointed out absently, looking out the window.

"Yes, it will," she insisted and tried taking a few deep breaths. She had been on it for hours, made apparent by the clock hanging on the wall opposite her, and the contractions only kept getting worse. She was quite sure she would either split open or die before she was finished. "And they're doctors, not some new age Healer-crap."

"New age?" Fred turned to her, but the spark seemed to have quite gone out of him with worry for her and when Luna and George might be bothered to join them. Nox had managed to call a taxi and had left a note for them on the kitchen table before it arrived, but whatever they were up to, they weren't doing it in the kitchen. The cab driver hadn't been much happy giving her a ride when he found out she was in the middle of giving birth, but she had scared him into submission with some rather loud and foul language.

"GAAAAAAARGH!" Her back arched as a new wave hit her and Fred's brows drew tighter together.

"Stop doing that!" he huffed and turned back to the dark window overlooking the parking lot.

"I'm sorry of your sensibilities are harmed by the fact that _I'm pushing another human being out of my vagina! GAARH!_" She took three deep breaths, then gathered enough strength to get her hair out of her eyes.

"Not that big of a deal," Fred muttered. "Not like you've been kicked in the bollocks or anything."

"I'm sure that's much worse," she answered sarcastically.

"You haven't tried it," he said, turning his back on the window and the almost empty parking lot.

"And you've tried giving birth?" At present time she was wishing she'd never had to try it, either. "Who gave you the experience, by the way?" Anything was better than focusing on her muscles contracting beyond bearing.

"Several people. Once Charlie, but that wasn't intentional." He gave her a small, lopsided smile. "On top of it he made me take off my pants so he could make sure he hadn't _really_ hurt me. Talk about adding insult to injury."

"And had he?" she asked.

"After feeling a bit around he realised what he was doing, got beet-red and muttered something about that I probably was okay. We couldn't look each other in the eye for several months afterwards. I'm not sure what's worse, getting groped by your big brother or touching your younger brother in such inappropriate places." He snickered a bit. "And I guess I was okay."

"No wonder you've turned out as you have," Nox mumbled as the midwife, if such a term could be applied to the beanstalk of a man, entered.

"Le'ssee 'ere!" The midwife got a chair and bent over Nox's crotch, giving her a good look at the starting moon at the top of his head. "Not bad, not bad. Almost halfway now." He smiled at her.

"_Halfway?_" Nox's eyes bulged out, before she fell back on the mattress again with a small moan. She had to be done soon and the last hours had to add up to more than _halfway._ It was past midnight and she had never missed her own bed, her normal stick-thin body and being pain-free more.

"Just let me take a look here." The midwife snuck his hands up under her gown to feel the underside of her belly, poking gently and then let his hands caress her hips and pubic bone with impersonal and soft movements. "God, she's got the pelvis of a twelve year old boy," he muttered under his breath, but not quiet enough for it to escape Nox.

"You're just gonna let him touch you?" Fred asked, as the midwife retracted his hands.

"It's his job," Nox hissed through her teeth, bracing herself as another contraction started. The midwife put his hands on her belly, this time over the gown, his forehead creasing.

"And here I thought I'd picked the perfect career," Fred muttered, beginning to move down to take a look himself. She tried grabbing his arm, but her hand went right through his ghostly body. That didn't stop her from trying several times.

"You stay here!" she told him, panting. He turned back to her, smiling slightly.

"Miss Wolfe, are you all right?" The midwife put a hand on her arm, giving her a concerned look.

"You said I was doing fine," she pointed out, then gathered that to him it must seem she was talking to thin air. "Yeah, I'm all right." She let out a long breath and tried looking sane. Between the rumpled gown and her sweat-soaked hair, it wasn't easy, but the creases on his forehead got smaller.

"I'll be back in an hour. Just ask the nurses if you need anything in the meantime." He gave her arm a small squeeze before joining the small knot of nurses gathered beside the door. Nox didn't hear the whole conversation, but what she did hear was "hallucination" and "keep an eye on her." She snorted.

"You're making me look like a lunatic," she said quietly to Fred in the hopes that she wouldn't be overheard. She was the only patient in the room at the time, but didn't trust the nurses to not hide behind the screens to listen.

"You're not making it a hard job," he retorted. "May I interest you in a hair brush?"

"Just – bugger off," she said wearily and turned her head away from him, tears of tiredness and desperation stinging her eyes.

"Hey, Nox," Fred tried carefully, putting his hand on her cheek to make her look at him again. She sighed at the cool touch on her heated skin, but didn't turn back. "You _are_ doing fine. You're doing bloody marvellous! You're giving birth, and that's pretty awesome, wouldn't you say?" She turned to him, seeing him smiling, but not the cocky grin he usually sported, this was soft and tender.

"I guess so," she agreed grudgingly, and let him comb her hair back, letting in some air between the damp strands. "It's bloody hard work, too."

"Looks like it is," he said softly. "Dying isn't, so you aren't." He bent his forehead to touch hers. "You hear me? You're gonna get out of this alive."

"Whatever gave you the idea I wouldn't?" she asked, almost laughing, but too tired to.

"You've sounded like a wounded mammoth for the last three hours," he answered and erected, but cupped the base of her skull in his hands. "It's slightly unnerving."

"Never thought I'd get either you or George unnerved," she whispered. Yet she had managed both over the last months.

"Everyone's got a weak spot." He was slowly stroking her neck and she felt the perspiration evaporate, leaving her calmer.

"Thanks for being here."

"Someone has to," he said and shrugged. "I guess you'd rather have Luna, but you'll have to do with me for now."

"You're fine, too." She sighed as he retracted his fingers, but didn't regret him doing so.

**OoO**

"LUNAAA!" Nox screamed, squeezing the nurse's hand on one side and faintly registering Fred's almost has hard grip on her other hand freeze the circulation in her fingers.

"She'll be here in a minute, I'm sure of it," Fred said, sounding distressed.

"Three, two, one and PUSH!" The midwife was sitting between her legs again, his forehead deeply creased, and Nox pushed with a roar. "You're doing great, honey, great." As the contraction tampered off her rubbed her knee reassuringly as the nurse wiped her face with a damp cloth.

"I want Luna." Nox both looked and sounded pitiful as she turned to Fred. The whole world seemed like a fog of pain, exhaustion and screaming, and she was sure Luna's presence would get rid of some of it.

"I know you do," Fred answered and stroke her arm. "She'll be here soon." He craned his neck to look out the window. The morning had broke with a dark sky and rain, and for a moment he wondered if time had stopped and he would be stuck watching Nox suffer through an endless childbirth for eternity.

"Miss Wolfe, I know you're tired, but we're almost done now," the midwife told her and she slowly turned her head to look at him, hardly hearing the words. "I can see the head, so if you can give a couple of more good pushes he'll be out. Okay?"

"I can't," she whined, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm going to die."

"No, you're not," he told her firmly, then seemed to find inspiration. "Even if, um, Luna isn't here, can you do it for her?" Nox nodded slowly, she could probably manage one push more, for Luna's sake.

"Here," the nurse said quietly and held a glass of water in front of her. She took the straw between her dry lips, but just sucking up a mouthful left her panting, even though it was cold and soothing.

"For Luna, then. Three, two, one, and PUSH!" The midwife took a deep breath, watching intently, and Nox pushed, feeling every fibre of her being about to part, but holding as good a grip on the picture of Luna in her mind as was possible. "Just one more now, and we're done."

"No," Nox protested feebly, turning her head restlessly back and forth.

"One more, for Luna," the midwife urged, but the image of the blonde had shattered in Nox's mind and she couldn't conjure it up again.

"For me, then?" Fred suggested, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning over her. "For me and George." Nox made a meowing-sound and hiccoughed, not sure if she should laugh or cry at the look in the ghost's eyes.

"For you and George," she whispered back, barely managing to focus on his spectral face where it drifted over her, hearing the command to push again like in a dream, faintly aware that she did push and a plopping-sound followed by the cry of a baby. Fred turned around to give her a full view of her son.

"Ten fingers and ten toes," the midwife told her, holding the baby under the armpits.

"That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen," Nox said and laughed feebly. The baby mostly resembled an alien made of raw meat, pink-purple, howling and covered in slime that he was, but she loved him deeply from the first glimpse.

"That's not ugly, that's your baby," Fred answered, sounding awe-struck. After quickly wiping him off and swaddling him in a towel, the nurse gave the baby to Nox, and after a second of insecurity, he fit perfectly in the crook of her elbow. It didn't take many moments before his racked died down, and his eyes locked with hers as the door burst open.

"Nox!" George shouted, running over to the bed. "Are we too late?" He came to a sudden halt beside her, looking down at the baby.

"Only a little," she replied, not looking up at him as the baby yawned.

"He's – he's –" George fell to his knees beside the bed, completely mesmerised by the small face. Slowly he reached out a hand, then retracted it, but Nox grabbed him by the wrist and put his forefinger carefully to the baby's cheek.

"He's perfect," she finished for him, the fog of pain having been replaced with one of total tranquility.

"I did that," he whispered, looking up at Luna who smiled back at him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Slowly he traced the line of the jaw, up to the plump lips and gasped as the mouth clamped down around his finger.

"He's probably hungry," the nurse said, both her and the midwife having busied themselves with quietly tidying up and watching them beneath lowered lashes.

"I'd be, too, after a squeeze like that," Fred agreed as Nox got her gown out of the way. The baby opened and closed his mouth around her nipple a couple of times, then sucked properly and the adults let out a collective sigh. The nurse and midwife silently exited not to disturb them.

"I told you it would be fine," Luna said and leaned over to kiss Nox on the forehead. "Your breasts have always known their purposes, even if you haven't." That made Nox laugh, but she stilled it not to joggle the baby.

"They seem to have caught on, yes," Fred noted, grinning.

"Shut up," Nox said mildly and tried covering herself a bit more.

"What? She's allowed to comment on your tits, but I'm not?" The grin didn't leave Fred's face.

"Yes. She has a pair of her own to ogle if she feels like it," Nox answered. The baby let go of her nipple, screwed up his face for a moment and let out a wet fart.

"At least I was here for his first poop," George pointed out, making them laugh.

"We don't have a name for him, though," Fred pointed out, leaning over the baby but not touching him in case the cold should startle him. "I still think Jedediah is a good alternative."

"No," Nox said quietly, cupping her new-born's head in her free hand. "His name is Gideon." She couldn't explain it, but she was sure her son would grow up to be just as outstanding as his Great Uncle, and the name fitted him like a glove.

"Gideon?" George said, a bit surprised, then his eyes softened as he looked at his son. "Yeah, Gideon."

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><p><strong>AN: Yes, Nox did in fact meow. Her finest moment, if you ask me.<br>Fun fact: when first coming up with the plot for this I got the name Gideon from a completely different book series and only later realised it was also the name of one of Molly's brothers. And that's also the reason she needed to talk about him to Nox and not go on and on about Fabian. **


	12. Milk

"Nox! Luna! He did it again!" Fred called down the hallway from the nursery. He had been set to watch Gideon while the others ate, but to only be a week old Fred thought his nephew had a remarkable talent at soiling nappies.

"What?" Nox hurried towards him, still chewing omelette and swallowed hard to get rid of it. "I thought Luna just changed him." She picked up the baby and cradled him to her as he began fretting.

"So did I," Fred said as Nox put the baby on the changing table and began taking off his clothes. "What are you feeding him, burnt tyres?" The smell was quite penetrating, even if the business itself wasn't much to brag about in terms of volume.

"I'm _trying_ to breast-feed him," Nox answered edgy as she changed the baby. The first couple of days of breast-feeding had gone fine, her body knew what it was it was supposed to do, but she had quickly dried up and not been able to keep Gideon full for more than an hour before he began screaming again.

"Is he all right?" Luna had joined them and put the tip of her finger on Gideon's nose, making his eyes go round and stilling him long enough for Nox to clothe him again.

"Should be," Nox answered and hoisted the child up on her shoulder, where he soon began smacking his lips. "That, too?" She sighed wearily, but sat down in the rocking chair and opened her shirt. Fred did as he had been told loud and clearly and left.

"You need to relax," Luna told Nox and came over to rub her shoulders. Nox closed her eyes and let her head fell back as Gideon assaulted her already sore and chapped nipple.

"I'm trying," she answered after a while. "Why isn't there enough milk?" She had got close to no sleep the last week, and never anything more than two hours at the time. It was draining her completely and all she wanted was for Gideon to get a full stomach and sleep for a whole night.

"It's not your fault," Luna answered, putting her finger on exactly what was bothering Nox. Even before giving birth she had been concerned she wouldn't be able to feed the kid, and here she was, with a hungry baby and empty breasts.

"I don't want to start bottle-feeding him right away, either," Nox said as Gideon gave up getting any milk.

"There is a potion that can give you more milk, though. Do you want to try it?" Luna informed her. Nox looked up at the blonde, not bothering with how murderous she must have looked.

"Why haven't you mentioned that before?" Nox got up and hoisted Gideon up on her shoulder to burp him, even if he couldn't have got much milk, if any. The try had left both mother and baby irritable and Luna carefully took him from her so they wouldn't get each other more worked up.

"I'm not sure if it'll work, since you're not magical, but it's worth a try?" Luna was calmly stroking the baby's back and he stopped fidgeting, settling in her arms like a pile of heavy laundry.

"What's worth a try?" George came in, followed by Fred.

"A potion to give Nox more milk," Luna said.

"You mean they're not working, those –" George gestured to Nox's front.

"No, they aren't," Nox answered, a bit hurt.

"They're just for show, then?" Fred asked, not meaning it to cause Nox to storm out of the room, but it did.

"Be nice to her," Luna said and settled the baby in the crook of her arm. George went over at once, cooing and wriggling his fingers over his son's face. Gideon's eyes stayed round and his gaze half-unfocused, but it didn't stop George.

"So," Fred said uncertainly, "should I go and apologise?"

"You could," Luna answered, almost as absorbed in the baby as George, and giving no clue as to if an apology would make things better or worse.

"Right." Fred made up his mind, he might as well do it and see what happened. He found her in the kitchen, finishing her omelette. "Hi." He sat down opposite her, but she didn't look up.

"Go away," she said flatly.

"No. I didn't mean to – what I said came out wrong," he said, leaning over the table in a hope she would look at him.

"And how was is supposed to come out?" she asked between mouthfuls.

"Well – you've filled out quite a bit after you got pregnant," he tried, making her glare at him. "In – in the chest, I mean, and I assumed that was because you had a lot of milk." His cheeks got opaque and he broke her gaze, maybe there wasn't any good way to say it, especially after she had forbidden him to talk of her breasts.

"You haven't noticed that Gideon's been constantly hungry the last few days?" Her voice was icy and he swallowed hard.

"Listen, Nox, I don't know a lot about babies, except that they scream and eat a lot, to me he's been acting perfectly normal." He almost grabbed her hand, but thought better of it. "What I meant with... them being just for show is that if they aren't giving any milk they don't have a practical function and are, well, just there." Now he was sure there wasn't any good way to say it and braced himself for her yelling.

"For you to look at?" She wasn't screaming, but dropped the fork down on her plate. "What a noble observation."

"For anyone to look at!"

"You just admitted you looked."

"Heavens above, is it such a crime for me to like how you look?" he burst out.

"After I got the tits from hell," she said, crossing her arms.

"I liked you fine before, too," he muttered.

"Did you, now?" she answered sceptically.

"At least you've never been fat."

"Yeah, I felt like a ballerina dancer a fortnight ago," she shot back and snorted.

"You still weren't fat," Fred said. "And you'd never be a ballerina dancer, pregnant or not. You're far too clumsy."

"You're making me feel all warm and fuzzy," she answered coldly.

"Eh, I like you clumsy." Fred shrugged. "Clumsy, stubborn and Muggle-y." Reluctantly, Nox felt the corners of her mouth draw up in a smile.

"I'm stubborn, too? Lots of great qualities I have." She leaned back, looking frankly at him. "Anything else?"

"No," Fred said and stood up. "I've got dibs on the gigantic ego around here, I'm not gonna feed yours." She snorted, but didn't stop smiling.

**OoO**

Luna was sent out to buy potion and baby formula, while Nox and the twins stayed at home, trying to keep Gideon as happy as possible. Even with their best efforts he broke out in a tremendous crying bout, which in turned tipped Nox over the edge. Fred did his best to handle her in the kitchen while George rocked and cooed to the baby in the nursery.

"Now, now, Auntie Luna will be right back," George told his son softly, holding him close to his body and checking his watch for the dozenth time in half an hour. "Any minute now, and she'll come back with some food for you, hush." The baby had quieted down a bit, probably worn out, but it tore at George to see him like that, all warm and bothered.

He found it strange that he could care so deeply for a person he at first hadn't wanted in his life. When he had first heard Nox was with child he had refused to accept it, simply because it had never occurred to him that he could be a father. It had always been Fred who had been closest to him and he had never thought a woman could mean more to him. And that was the only way he knew you could become a father, in a way, marrying a woman and having kids. That a random encounter brought on by too much drink could turn his life upside down, the notion had never occurred to him.

He knew he had acted like a jerk towards Nox at first, but he had been far too put off to think of anyone but himself. He had seen his mother burst out crying over the smallest incident and sent them to their rooms when she was pushed too far and his father work himself down to the bone to support them. He didn't want to be in their situation, even if he had learned to admire his parents after growing up himself.

"Hush now, Gideon," he whispered and put the baby down in the crib and blew lightly in his face, he had began fussing again.

Of course the joke shop supplied more than enough money to support a child, still he had been terrified and woken sweat-soaked and disoriented after dreams where he had began balding, the flesh of his body had fallen away, and no matter what he did or how hard he worked it wasn't enough. And the sound of a thousand babies crying. He hadn't got back to sleep after those dreams and had spent many nights alone in the kitchen, sometimes accompanied by a bit of whisky and a lot of thoughts.

Then he had realised that Luna hadn't abandoned Nox, even though she had no link to the baby. She had no reason to be there, but was anyway, because she cared about Nox. And didn't he, too, in a way? Of course he did, he would've loved her for the sole reason that she was the complete opposite of Fred and that they drove each other up the wall at times. And even Fred had come to an agreement of sorts with the situation, then George could bloody well too!

The baby had fallen into a doze and George was left simply to look at him. He hadn't changed much in the last week, except that his complexion had faded to pink and his eyebrows were free of gunk. Due to the troubles with feeding him he hadn't put on any weight, rather lost some, but with the amount of baby books the women had been reading the last few months George guessed they would take action long before it became any danger. And that was just what they were doing.

"I think your auntie needs a spanking for taking so long," he said quietly and grinned. Since Luna had broken her engagement to Rolf she was free on the marked again and George didn't have any reason not to ask her out. It would be a nice arrangement for them to get together, since she insisted on helping with Gideon. Still, he didn't want her so she could be stepmother to his son, he wanted her so she could be his wife.

"Is he sleeping?" As if summoned by his thoughts, Luna tiptoed into the room and came to stand beside him.

"Hardly," he answered as the baby raised his fist and tried sticking it in his mouth, but was far too uncoordinated to make it. "What kept you?"

"It wasn't as easy to find as I thought." She reached into her large handbag and came out with a shockingly pink potions bottle with a purple label. Fred and Nox came in, having heard her voice, she rather red around the eyes.

"So where did you find it?" Fred asked.

"Oh, in a curiosity shop in Knockturn Alley," Luna answered.

"I didn't know there was any curiosity shops there," George said, raising an eyebrow at her. "What's it named?"

"Fergus's Temptations of the Flesh," she said, handing the bottle to Nox as the twins shot each other horrified looks. "It takes three days before it begins taking effect, so I got a couple of boxes of the formula as well."

"Fergus's?" Fred said, slightly shocked. The establishment might be called a curiosity shop for civility's sake, but the twins knew it to be a raw sex shop which had left them more scared than turned on the few times they had sneaked in there. He didn't want to know how Luna even knew it existed.

"Luna, thank you!" Nox said with emphasis and almost moved in to hug her, then tried making it into a handshake, but Luna pulled her into her arms anyway.

"You're welcome," Luna answered as she let go of her. "Motherhood isn't easy on you, is it?"

"It isn't easy on anyone," Fred shot in, making George give him a look, soundlessly asking him what was up with not mocking Nox for her tousled hair and the spit-up stain on her shirt. Fred gave a tiny shrug, it wouldn't do any good to have Nox think she was being criticised now.

"Why don't you go lay down, I think we got this covered," George suggested as Luna pulled up one of the boxes of formula and began reading the instructions.

"Take a tablespoon of this first," Luna said, absently handing the bottle of potion to Nox and not checking if she had a hold of it before letting go. "One in the evening and one in the morning. Every day."

"You're sure? I mean..." Nox was too tired to come up with any reasonable excuse for her to stay, except that she wanted to see how Gideon handled the bottle, which was rather quite silly, she trusted Luna more than enough to look after him, and George... well, she trusted him too, in a way.

"We'll be fine. Now march those wobbly legs of yours off!" Fred commanded, taking hold of her shoulders and turning her towards the door. She didn't protest and almost stumbled over the threshold before making her way down the hallway.

"Hey, Nox." George had followed her and she stopped so he could catch up with her. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for – well, for a lot of things. For getting you into this mess, for acting like a jerk when you told me, for being a complete wreck when we told Mum –"

"You take care of him tonight and let me sleep, and I think you're forgiven," Nox answered.

"You sure?" He didn't exactly think one night was enough to make up for weeks and even months of being an insolent louse, but at least it was a start.

"No, but I'm tired," she answered. "Just... do a decent job of it, will you?" she added as she began scuffling off to bed again.

"Don't I ever?" he called after her, but she didn't reply and he went back to the nursery. Fred was leaning over the cot, but no sign of Luna.

"I think he's got your nose," the ghost said as George came to stand beside him.

"Our nose, you mean," George corrected him. "Charlie told me something about how we're alike and stuff."

"It took him two and a half decades to notice? And my nose is sexier than yours anyway," Fred answered.

"How is a nose sexy?"

"It just is," Fred retorted and wriggled his fingers over the baby's face, to very little effect.

"I think what Charlie meant was that if you weren't dead and stuff, and had a kid with Nox, it'll look the same as Gideon," George mused, still not sure if he had understood his brother correctly.

"If I hadn't been dead, we would never have needed the mug-lug," Fred pointed out. "Besides, why on earth would I have a kid with her?" George just smiled and shook his head. The baby was starting to fuss again and opened his mouth in what seemed to be a big shriek. For lack of better inspiration George plugged the gaping hole with his finger, feeling the moist gums suck ferociously.

"Good thing he doesn't have teeth yet," he noted as Luna entered again with a baby bottle.

"Careful, he could suck your nail right off," she said, removing the finger and picking up the baby.

"He's strong, but not that strong, I think," George answered, nonetheless checking his nail for any damage as Luna sat down in the rocking chair, cooing and calming the baby, who had began squirming again.

"Soon enough you'll regret sticking your fingers in his mouth, might as well get in the habit of not doing it at once," Fred said. Gideon used a few seconds to get accustomed to the feel of the rubber in his mouth before clamping on. He was even more eager to suck on that than George's finger, making the beholder of the digit less sceptical to Luna's statement.

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><p><strong>AN: Luna's quite the kinky b****, isn't she? No, she's not, I just figure while normal people might walk into a bookstore just to have a look, Luna will walk into any store that seems a bit special, including sex shops.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: I'm seriously running out of titles for the chapters. Other than that, figured it was time for George and Luna to get a spot in the limelight.**

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><p>"You think he's sleeping for good now?" George asked, rubbing his forehead and not getting up from the nursing chair. It was three in the morning and they had taken turns feeding Gideon constantly, it felt like. The baby couldn't eat much at a time, but was happy to wait twenty minutes after he was fed, then scream, and eat a bit more. It had been going on all night, but at last he had fallen asleep in George's arms, dead to the world. Luna now nodded and smiled at him, making him smile in return.<p>

"He's got a full tummy and in not too long..." Her smile broadened, almost making her look devious.

"A full nappy," George finished for her and groaned.

"You can go to bed if you want to," she said. "I'll wake Nox if he gets too bothersome for me."

"No," he answered, beckoning her over and pulling her down on his lap. "No, unless the house is burning down, we're not waking Nox." He had told Nox he would do it, and even if Luna could handle it alone he wasn't backing down. Not now. Carefully Luna brushed his hair back and looked him in the eyes. He raised his brows at her, he didn't look that tired, did he?

"Just making sure you're okay," she said softly.

"Okay?" He let out a dry laughter and put his head down on her shoulder. "I'm a lot of things, but – I'm okay enough," he settled on. There wasn't any danger of lasting damage from lack of sleep for a night, after all. And if it was, he was already severely affected.

"I think Gideon is going to be very happy," she said after a few minutes where they had just sat quietly, enjoying the other's presence. "He's got four parents, after all."

"You think the more parents you got, the happier you are?" George said, feeling one mother had been more than enough for him growing up.

"They are wonderful people, though, wouldn't you say? I'd be glad to have a mother like Nox." There was longing in her voice and he hugged her closer to him.

"I'd be happy to have a mother like you, too," George said, hoping Gideon would learn early on it was wisest for just Luna to be close by if he got up to some mischief. "I'm more happy to have you here, though." He twined his fingers into her hair and let out a deep breath.

"And what am I here?"

"A good friend, first and foremost. But..." He looked away, not seeing the tenderness in her eyes not directed at the baby. She leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek. He slowly turned to meet her lips."Luna," he whispered when they parted, not wanting this to end up the wrong way.

"Shh," she answered and snuggled close to him, one hand draped over his shoulder and fingering his hair. He was dumbstruck for a long moment, then clasped her even closer to his body.

**OoO**

"Oh, Merlin's pants!" Fred exclaimed when entering the nursery the next morning. "This is disgusting!"

"Could you please get over the fact that Gideon poops, just like everybody else?" Nox asked, coming in after him, then came to a sudden halt. Luna was still curled up on George's lap in the rocking chair, a small buzz of snoring surrounding them.

"This is getting too much for me. First a baby and now this!" Fred pointed an accusing finger at his brother, who only kept on sleeping, a small smile apparent on his half-closed lips.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Nox teased as she went over to the crib to check on the baby. Gideon seemed to be sleeping just as well as his father, but opened his eyes when Nox bent over him.

"No," Fred said, not very convincingly. "It's just that, well, I'm scared for him."

"You, scared? For him?" Nox gave him a sharp look over the shoulder before picking up Gideon, he needed to be changed again. "You're the one who managed to die, and you're scared for _him?_"

"I had very little to do with the managing of my death, I'll tell you," he shot back. "It's just that now he's got a kid, and by the looks of it a girlfriend, soon they'll get a dog and a little cottage and grow boring together, and, well, where does that leave me?"

"Fred, wanna know a secret?" Nox said, holding Gideon down with a hand on his belly and turning to the ghost, who nodded. "The world doesn't revolve around you!"

"It does, too!" he protested loudly, but not loudly enough to wake the couple in the chair. "Why else would anyone bothering putting a curse on me after I died?"

"Pay-back?" She smirked at him before turning back to the baby. "And don't worry about George, if death couldn't part you I doubt she can."

"Oh, you have no idea about what powers women possess," Fred said darkly, glaring at his twin and Luna.

"Funny, I thought I was a woman and should possess some of these scary powers myself." She was done changing Gideon and put him back in the cradle.

"They made a mistake with you," he answered, but gave her an odd look. "Anyway, they should've been watching the kid, not _canoodling._"

"You make it sound like they set the curtains on fire and ran away to India," Nox said, crossing her arms. "They were right here the whole time, they would've waken if he screamed."

"Still." He huffed, then a grin slowly spread on his face, making his eyes gleam.

"What are you thinking?" she said sternly, not liking that look, it usually meant some prank was about to be set in action.

"Be a shame if they slept away a beautiful morning like this," he said airy.

"And how were you planning on preventing that?"

"That chair is made for rocking."

"It's a rocking chair," she pointed out dryly.

"Exactly!" He slowly went around the chair, looking at the base of it and the position of George and Luna. "It would be rather natural for it to suddenly rock a bit back, and then... forward."

"I'm starting to suspect someone who knew you very well put that curse on you," Nox said, "but go on, it's probably not the worst you've done."

"I would," Fred said and sighed. "I'm just not sure I've got the strength." He held out his transparent arms, wriggling his fingers.

"Bummer," she retorted and turned towards the door, but he got between it and her.

"Come on, Noxy, you know you want to. Just a little push, they won't even know it was you."

"No," she answered, but couldn't help but take a look back, envisioning George pitching forward and holding on to Luna for dear life. It wouldn't be too bad, considering he was sleeping on the job.

"Come on, now." Fred knew he already had her with him on it and she stopped fighting, it didn't seem likely anything less than cannon fire would wake George and Luna anyway. If they didn't wake, no harm done, and if they did... not exactly any harm was done then, either.

"Okay," she said and he rubbed his hands together as she got behind the rocking chair and pulled it a few inches back. It wasn't easy, the combined weight of the occupants making her arms quiver almost at once.

"A bit more," Fred urged, standing beside her and looking like a kid on Christmas Eve. Nox obeyed, bracing one leg in front of the other on the floor. "Come on, I said more!"

"If I pull it further back now it'd gonna topple over on me," she answered through gritted teeth.

"Fine. Let go, then." Fred took a step to the side to enjoy the full scene of his twin opening his eyes wide halfway, open his mouth as to shout something, then just cling onto the closest thing, which happen to be Luna, as they both tumbled to the floor. "Great!"

"The hell kinda way is this to wake your brother?" George demanded the moment he had got himself off of Luna. "And her, too!"

"A fun one," Fred answered.

"You were quite the look," Nox said as Luna sat up, clutching her knee.

"You're not hurt?" George demanded at once of her, giving his twin a short, sour look.

"Not much. I prefer to be on top, though, although I guess you can't always get what you prefer," Luna answered.

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><p><strong>AN: That second part was supposed to only be about three lines, but do you think Fred would listen? Nooo...<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

Three days later Nox was ready to resume breast-feeding, as the potion should have taken full effect. Gideon hadn't taken the bottle too well and it was a far messier business feeding him with that than breast-feeding, and they were all looking forward to it.

"How's it going?" George came into the nursery, eating an apple.

"Not as good as I hoped," she answered, taking hold of Gideon's small hand to keep him from pounding her breast again. It was her second try that morning, but it didn't seem the baby was pleased with the menu.

"It's better, though?" he asked, sticking his finger into the baby's fist and stroking the back of the tiny hand with his thumb.

"Not much," she muttered as the baby let go of her with a soft _plop!_ and she slowly turned him the other way to try the other breast. "I'm afraid we'll have to stick to the bottles as prime source of milk."

"Is that such a bad thing? He's already chewed up your nipples, imagine several more months of that," George pointed out and she gave him a cold look while hitching the shirt up over her exposed breast.

"Same rule goes for you as for Fred," she said as the baby began mewling, but didn't let go of the potential food source.

"It's wrong if I don't take an interest, it's wrong if I do. What the hell do you want from me?" George said, taking another bite out of the apple.

"An interest in Gideon, not in me," she pointed out. "If you're interested in breasts, go fondle Luna's."

"That was below the belt," George said. "Besides, if you insist on breast-feeding him, you're the only one that can feed him at all, with the bottles we can take turns." What he didn't add was that he rather enjoyed giving Gideon his bottle and trying to figure out what the baby was looking at, he had the knack of looking fully absorbed in thin air. Luna had come up with some theories of what he saw that they didn't, which wasn't completely against him, either, she had a lively imagination and got completely caught up in telling him.

"Yes, but..." Nox ran a hand through her hair and hoisted the baby up against her shoulder. "All the books say breast-feeding is the best."

"What books? The formula we're using is the best on the marked, it says so right on the package," George said and offered to take the baby from her so she could get properly clothed again. She handed their son over and began buttoning up the shirt.

"I just want what's best for him, okay?" Nox said wearily.

"So do I," George answered and patted the baby's back. He belched and left a wet, sticky spot on George's shoulder, which the latter made a face at. "You might want to take into consideration that formula is better than letting him starve, though."

"He's not starving," she insisted.

"Oh, then what do you call being hungry all the time?" George shifted the baby, who had settled into a doze again, to his other arm. Nox gave him a long stare, but was prevented from giving her a piece of her mind by the entrance of Luna and Fred.

"Hello, Gideon." Luna tried making contact with the baby, but he hardly opened his eyes.

"He's eaten himself into a stupor?" Fred asked, standing behind Luna and watching as the baby snuggled his face against George's shirt, leaving a wet trail of saliva.

"No, the potion isn't working," Nox told him shortly. "I'll go get him a bottle."

"Nox, it isn't your fault," Luna said, taking hold of the other woman's shirt sleeve as she tried to get away. "I said the potion might not work because you don't have any magic, but we tried."

"Yeah, we tried," Nox said flatly.

"Lighten up, mug-lug," Fred put in. "You carried the creature around for nine months and gave birth to it, it's okay for us others to pick up the slack now."

"You mean me and Luna to pick up the slack," George corrected and handed the child over to Luna, where he buried both fists in the fabric of her dress.

"Hey, I've been helping out, too! It's not my fault I can't change nappies and stuff," Fred said, sticking his nose in the air.

"And what a great loss it is for you, I'm sure," George answered and finished his apple.

"I'm getting that bottle now, and then you can fight over who's gonna feed him," Nox said and tried getting away again before the baby started fussing after more food.

"Wait a second, though," Fred said, looking from Luna to Nox and back again. "She's got tits, too, you know." He pointed at the blonde with his thumb, his eyes narrowing a bit in calculation.

"Fred, I'm soon calling the Ghostbusters on you," Nox said quiet, but firmly.

"This better be good," George told his twin, crossing his arms.

"You know, she's got tits, too!" Fred repeated, practically vibrating with excitement.

"It's that good?" George still looked a bit sceptical, but the few times Fred got so excited he got nearly speechless with the effort of trying to explain his idea it was something brilliant.

"She's a witch! The potion's made for witches, and she got tits!" Fred exclaimed, hardly able to string two words together in the euphoria of solving their problem.

"You mean Luna could breast-feed Gideon?" George said, unfolding his arms as a grin began to spread on his face. "It's a thought. She's well equipped, at least, and Gideon likes her."

"And Nox's dry as a desert, better stop while she's ahead, " Fred said, grinning back. "Or at least not too far behind."

"Hold it right there!" Nox interrupted. "Were you planning on asking us what we think of this ridiculous scheme, or just run with it?"

"We were getting to that part," George told her. "So, Luna, you think you're up for the job?"

"I'd love to, if Nox is okay with it," Luna answered and turned to the other woman.

"Well," Nox said, chewing her lower lip. "The books never mentioned something like this –"

"Screw the books! If you can't have an independent thought of yourself soon I'm setting up a play date with Hermione for you," Fred said.

"_But_ I'm okay with it," Nox finished, scowling at Fred. "After all, if it backfires, we still got the formula."

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><p><strong>AN: When I thought about Luna being Gideon's nurse I didn't automatically think wet-nurse, but it just worked out that way.<strong>


	15. Summary

**AN: Kind of a summary chapter, because I can't write it all in detail, it would kill me. I had a hard enough time writing this without coming up with too many scenes and details. Time I actually get to the part of the story I was planning on writing.**

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><p>And so Luna began taking the potion, to great effect, although Nox always gave Gideon a bottle in the evening. It wasn't that she minded Luna taking over, it was just that she didn't want to let go completely of the strange connection feeding the baby gave. They soon had to develop a pretty tight schedule to prevent him from throwing a fit that could take up to an hour to calm down enough to begin the feeding and wear them all out. Neither of them really minded, except Fred, who couldn't fathom why George had to be present at almost every feeding, it was Luna who had the milk, after all.<p>

Nonetheless they got used to their lives running around Gideon's needs, whether it was an empty stomach or a full nappy. With the introduction of more solid foods came the realisation that George seemed to enjoy the taste of the baby food more than his offspring, and they had to stock up on twice as much as they had thought, as well as learning some new cleaning spells to get the stains out of the ceiling, Gideon had quite the spitting range.

Every trick in the book seemed to fail with the potty training, until George started taking the boy with him to the bathroom. Nox thought this was quite unnecessary, how the hell would George help Gideon if he was on the can himself? When he suggested she could come help if she was so concerned she got close to smashing in his skull with a flower vase and George used the next week to complain about the lump in the back of his head and the double vision, but after four days even Luna stopped giving him any sympathy.

Ridiculous as it seemed, the technique did work in the end, as Gideon insisted on being in the bathroom with his father to go in his nappy after a few weeks, and after a lot of persuasion he made use of the potty, to everyone's relief.

The only thing that bothered them a bit was his language, or rather, lack of. He did speak, but usually only one or two words at the time, and it wasn't always easy to decipher what he meant. All of them knew parts of his vocabulary, but no one all of it, and it caused more than one screaming fit when he couldn't make himself understood to his mother, although Auntie Luna got it in a second, or when Fred thought he wanted one thing and George had to ransack half the Mansion for the right item, then get the boy calmed down with it.

Still, the boy seemed to thrive. He mostly went around on his own business and didn't want the adults interfering with his building blocks or the jigsaw puzzles he got addicted to early on. When everything ran smoothly and according to schedule he was so quiet George actually forgot about him one time the three others were out working on a case until he was halfway through eating dinner. Gideon didn't seem to mind greatly, although he was mighty grumpy about getting ripped out of his playing for something as trivial as food.


	16. Bad Broom

**AN: Phew! I just made it. As this was written late last night just to get it down and post it on reFredding day I'll take any less responsibility than usual for any typos, grammar errors, or portraying anyone as sex-crazed baboons.**

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><p>"I'm signing you up for a Mother of the Year Award, this time," Fred told Nox, grinning from ear to ear.<p>

"It wasn't my fault," she insisted. "You were the ones that left the brooms out."

"Yeah, but who was it that told Gideon it was okay for him to take it?" Fred pointed out, unbuttoning his shirt.

"I didn't say it was okay for him to take that one!" It was true, when the boy had interrupted her in the middle of reading asking if he could play with the broom, she had assumed he meant his own play broom which didn't levitate more than two feet above the ground. That he should take one of the much more dangerous brooms the twins had been using for a game of one-on-one Quidditch earlier in the day hadn't crossed the small part of her mind that had detached itself from reading to listen to him. Under normal circumstances not even that should be a big danger, the boy never flew anywhere on his own broom, just hovered in the exact same spot, staring intently at the handle. However, since the twins' brooms had been left near the staircase and Gideon had somehow managed to both back up the broom he was sitting on and make it steep forwards enough for him to topple over backwards, only a quick cushioning charm from Luna, who happened to be passing by at the moment, had saved him from a painful tumbling down the stairs.

"Next time you might want to listen to what he's saying, though," Fred said, obviously teasing her and she threw a pillow at him.

"It was the first time he's got near to doing anything dangerous!" she hissed. "How was I supposed to know what he meant?"

"You're his mother, aren't you?" Fred said, but she only huffed and got into bed, having changed to her night time attire already.

"Sorry for not being as glorious as your mind-reading mother," she said at last, her back to him, as Fred finished undressing and slid in beside her.

"Oh, come on," he said, pulling her against his chest and ignoring her feeble struggle against it. Having got rid of the damned curse and getting the added bonus of getting his body back, Fred and Nox had been forced to admit the feelings for each other, as his first act back amongst the living had been snogging her. "If you'd been anything like her, do you think I would be here now?" He snuggled his nose against the side of her neck and nibbled her earlobe.

"I hope not," she answered and tried swatting him away. "I'd always though Oedipus complexes are some of the most disturbing things around."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my complexion," he answered and ran his tongue along the edge of her ear, making her shiver and draw up her shoulders.

"You're an ass," she whispered. "A stupid ass."

"More like a proud stallion." He slowly ran his hand under her t-shirt and up on her hip. Soon abandoning her hip, his fingers travelled up to her ribs, silently counting them and she squirmed as it tickled her.

"Stop that." She put a sharp elbow in his side.

"Ow! You could've punctured my lung with that thing, it's sharp as a knife!" he exclaimed, rubbing at his own ribs and leaving hers alone.

"A butter knife, in that case," she said dryly and turned to face him. "Want me to kiss it all better?" She batter her eyelashes and pouted her lips in a mocking manner.

"Only if you start at my lips and work your way down," he said and didn't wait for her to answer before leaning over her, pushing her over on her back and got down to it. They were soon interrupted by a soft knock on the door, although Fred wasn't inclined to give up for such a measly reason and Nox was forced to try to push him off of her when she heard soft steps on the carpet.

"Hi, Gideon," she said, catching a glimpse of her son from under Fred's armpit. That was enough to cause Fred to roll off her with a small disappointed grunt.

"Hi, kiddo." At least he managed not to look upset about getting his plans thwarted by a five-year-old. "Can't sleep?"

"No," the boy answered, looking down on the floor and swinging the stuffed rabbit he held by the ears a bit back and forth. "Auntie Loony locked her door."

"Then maybe she and your daddy want some alone time," Fred answered, wondering why he hadn't had the presence of mind to do the same.

"Why can't you sleep?" Nox asked, making room for the boy on the bed and patting the mattress. The boy scampered up from the foot end and sat down with the rabbit in his lap, letting his mother comb back his auburn hair. Fred groaned inwardly.

"Can't sleep," the boy muttered sullenly and sniffed.

"Did something scare you?" Fred ventured, hoping he could guide the boy back to his own bed and reassure him nothing bad would happen if they left the lights on, at the same time having to admit Nox's mood for anything other than being a mother was already ruined for the night.

"Bad broom," Gideon muttered, beginning to rock slightly back and forth. "Bad broom."

"Shh." Nox got her arms around him, but it wasn't enough to stop him rocking. "Shh, there's no bad brooms in here, you're safe here." She pulled him closer and continued hushing softly to him, but he didn't stop muttering to himself.

"Gideon, do you know what we're doing tomorrow?" Fred tried, figuring it might be better to distract the boy. "We're going to Grandma and Grandpa and you can play with your cousins."

"Bad broom!" the boy suddenly exclaimed, making Nox jerk in surprise.

"Yes, it was a very bad broom!" Fred agreed gravely and almost as loud, taking hold of Gideon's chin and tried to make him look him in the eyes. The boy wriggled in protest, and Fred loosened his hold, but went on with his speech. "And first thing tomorrow I'm going to chop it up to kindling!" Saying it, even just to calm the boy down, gave his heart a twist. It was a Firebolt, and although not the newest model, no doubt a good and expensive broom. Gideon's eyes went big and Fred let go of him, but he didn't move, just stared off into space and ceased rocking back and forth.

"Uncle Fred will take care of that bad broom in no time," Nox assured the boy and kissed the top of his head. "We can't have things like that scattered all over the place, ready to ambush us at any time, can we?" She gave Fred a sly smile and he gave her a narrow look in return.

"Want Auntie Loony." It was whispered quietly, as if the boy had already realised the improbability of getting his wish granted, but not wanting it any less because of that.

"I know you do, honey," Nox answered. "But I think she's a little busy at the moment."

"Busy what?" He sniffed again and was on the verge of tears.

"Cleaning out her wardrobe," Fred said with sudden inspiration. "And there might be a Boggart in there, and that's much worse than a bad broom."

"You can stay here with us, though," Nox offered, making Gideon fling his arms around her neck.

"Mummy," he muttered into her hair. "No bad broom."

"No, there's no bad brooms here," she assured him again. "Just your Uncle Fred, and he's relatively safe. So, we have to sleep now, or Grandma will be annoyed with us for showing up late." The boy was already going limp and she laid him down in the middle of the bed, brushing back his unruly hair again before tucking them both in. Fred sighed and turned off the bedside lamp before lying down himself and tried getting some physical contact with Nox without disturbing the boy, which seemed to limit itself to their feet, but all three of them soon feel asleep, Fred to the sound of the throbbing in his temples and Gideon's soft snores.

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><p><strong>AN: Next chapter will be their visit to the Burrow and I had originally meant this to be the start of that chapter, but seeing as this is written and the rest isn't, and that it's reFredding day, it's getting in a chapter all on its own. So there!<strong>


	17. Family Gathering

**AN: WARNING: Bad language! Actually, children accidentally using bad language, but I'm still warning you, in case you're very easily offended by those kind of things. I should also warn you I have no idea what's going on for most of this chapter, there's far too many characters for me to handle, and I can still not tie two scenes together in a satisfying manner. And I might change Gideon's middle name later, I haven't fully made up my mind.**

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><p>"Gideon Edward Weasley!" George bellowed and ran down the stairs after his half-clothed son. "You're coming back here this minute and you are gonna take your bath!"<p>

"Ka!" he heard the boy exclaim in happiness, and as George descended the bottom steps he saw Caithion stand in the hallway, quietly smoking a cigarette and seeming not to have noticed the child clinging to the leg of his trousers.

"Nox's busy," George barked and reached out to pick up Gideon, but Caithion put a scrawny hand in his way, shielding the child. George looked up at the thin man to see him smiling pleasantly down at him.

"I wasn't looking for her, I was looking for your girlfriend." The smile didn't seem as pleasant any more and George stood up straight. "Just a small matter of philosophy, nothing more." Caithion shrugged, indicating the matter was not strictly pressing, but he would prefer to get it over with.

"She's busy, too," George answered shortly. "And we'd prefer it if you didn't smoke in here." The small smile stayed on Caithions lips and he made no move to either put out the cigarette or step aside so George could get the boy back up to the bathroom.

"Ka 'moking," Gideon muttered and looked up the secretary's back. He had not yet managed to pronounce the whole name and was stuck on the first syllable, which George suspected was partly due to stubbornness, the kid had as good as his own language. "Ka hungry?"

"No, I'm not hungry, but thank you for asking," Caithion said mildly, not looking down at him.

"See you around, then," George said, and this time was allowed to pick Gideon up in his arms, where he twisted and turned until he was held around his middle with his back to his father's chest.

"More than you appreciate, I guess," the secretary said and turned to leave. George snorted, it wasn't that he had anything particular against Caithion, but he did turn up at untimely moments to drag Nox out on some mission. She had stayed in the business of paranormal detectiving, which wasn't always a nine-to-five job and didn't suit her current family situation the best, although being four parents was easier than if it had been just the traditional two, there was usually at least one left to look after the kid.

"Bye-bye Ka," Gideon said quietly, opening and closing his fist in a childish waving.

"And now it's hello bath," George said firmly and began climbing the stairs again.

"No!" The boy kicked and arched his back, almost making George drop him, but he managed to hold on to him until he could be set down on the landing.

"Yes, you have to take your bath," George said sternly and squatted down in front of the boy, holding him firmly by the upper arms. "You didn't take it yesterday and you don't want Grandma to think you're grubby, do you?" Gideon didn't seem to have gathered much of this speech, except that he was being forced to take his bath in the morning instead of the night before bed, which was their usual routine. With the incident with the broom the day before the boy had seemed too shaken to do anything else than curl up on the couch and watch telly, which he had been allowed to do for once.

"Grandma," the boy said, pronouncing it carefully and tasting the word.

"Yes, your grandma. Don't tell me you've forgot who she is?" George rubbed his forehead. "If you come all washed up and nice she's sure to give you some sweets," he added, as he knew his mother had a tendency to spoiling her grandchildren, clean or not.

"What sweets?" the boy asked, chewing his lip.

"Well, we won't find out before we get there, will we? Now, come, or the water will get cold." Without further ado, George stood up and took Gideon by a small hand, almost dragging him along to the bathroom.

The bath went about as well as George had hoped for, which meant he was wet to the skin by the end of it and Gideon escaped clean and dry, but naked, down the hallway. Luckily Luna snatched him up and sweet-talked him into putting on some clothes and letting her comb his hair. George had never understood why she could make the boy see sense when no one else could, but maybe it had something with both of them eyeing the world in their own fashion.

In the end they had packed what might be necessary for a few hours out of the house, as well as a few things that might not be, everyone was appropriately clothed and in more or less a good mood, and they could depart for the Burrow. The first thing George noticed when stepping out of the fireplace was that they were not the first to arrive, made apparent by the level of noise from outside, and that a feast was well on the way.

"And just when I was beginning to hope you might not show up at all. Drat!" Charlie was seated by the kitchen table and gave the twins a welcoming grin.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Fred answered and put down Gideon, the kid didn't like travelling by Floo and he was much too young to do it by himself anyway.

"How are you doing?" Luna asked Charlie, her eyes soon drifting up to the ceiling.

"Still alive," he answered and ran a hand through his hair, revealing a bloody scrape on his elbow. "How are you?" The question was directed at Gideon, who at once hid behind Fred's leg and barely dared looking at his uncle.

"He's fine," George answered. "For the most part." At this moment a stream of women came in through the door, gobbling like a flock of geese and the twins only nodded and smiled as Fleur exclaimed over how big Gideon had got, Ginny jokingly told Fred she would never thought he'd been dead, he looked great, Hermione asked Nox if she had read a book she had recommended and Molly kissed everyone's cheek, even if it meant taking hold of the front of Fred's shirt and brutally yanking him down to her level.

"My, oh my!" Molly said at last, bending down to be face to face with Gideon. "You're just as handsome as your father. Are you as well-behaved?" She reached into her pocket and extracted a candy drop of some sort, offering it to the boy, but he had already backed up against the cupboards.

"Go on, honey, it's nothing to be afraid of," Nox said, squatting down and giving the boy a small push. He gingerly went forward enough to snap up the treat and stuff it in his mouth, then went back to his mother and buried his face in the crook of her neck. Nox gave Molly a helpless look.

"There is a lot of people in here," Luna pointed out. She had been forced into a corner by the throng caused by the women's entrance, but didn't seem to mind much on her own behalf.

"We were just going to get the cutlery," Ginny said, opening a drawer and began to count forks. "We're setting up a table out on the lawn, figured that'll be better than trying to fit all of us inside."

"And for once the English weather is nice," Fleur said. She was right, Molly had managed to time the family get-together to the warmest and sunniest day so far in the summer.

"You've lived her for, what, a decade, and still haven't got used to the weather?" Charlie teased before either of the twins got the opportunity.

"I've got used to it, that doesn't mean I like it," she answered mildly. "And with such nice weather, what are you doing inside?"

"They were discussing politics." Charlie made a face indicating that wasn't the most desired topic on his agenda at the moment.

"Really? I didn't think Ron even knows who the current Minister is," Fred said as most of the women gathered themselves and what food items they were bringing out, and left again.

"He doesn't have to," Charlie answered. "They're talking about Fudge." Gideon looked up at this, plainly thinking there might be more sweets, which allowed Nox to stand up again.

"Fear not, dear brother, me and George are here to discuss exploding hairbrushes and green elixirs!" Fred said, clapping a hand to Charlie's back.

"And that's why you're not allowed to bring your work home," Nox said, which seemed to amuse Molly.

"Once you've done testing them, give one of those hairbrushes to Bill, won't you?" Charlie suggested.

"Oh, those of little imagination!" Fred exclaimed, putting the back of his hand to his forehead and pretending to swoon.

"Bill _is _our test," George said. "Unless he's had an aneurism, I bet he still does the hundred brush-strokes before bed thing." He grinned, just as couple of small children came running in, propelling into Molly's legs and clinging onto her thighs with exclamations of how much they loved her.

"Well, here you go, then," the redheaded witch said after a moment and removed a few more sweets from her pocket to pop into their gaping mouths. "And what have you been up to?" The two children's jeans had heavy mud stains on the knees and bottoms.

"Been watching the tadpoles," James told her.

"There's so many!" Dominique exclaimed, taking a look around the room and spotting Gideon. "What's he doing here?"

"He's here to play with you," Molly told them, not raising her voice, but making it clear that that was what they would do. "Why don't you go out and show him the tadpoles?"

"I'll come with you," Charlie suggested, partly from a desire to prevent the little rascals from jumping head-first into the pond and making whole meal dissolve into the women complaining about the kids' dirty clothes.

"Nah, we're going upstairs," James said, eyeing Gideon suspiciously. James Potter II quite lived up to his grandfather and namesake's reputation and wasn't content with jigsaw puzzles or books, which was more of Gideon's way.

"We can play house," Dominic suggested gleefully and clapped her hands.

"That sounds okay, kiddo?" Fred asked Gideon, who had taken a good grip on his mother's trousers and didn't seem inclined to let go.

"Want bobo," the child mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the fist holding onto Nox's jeans.

"Bobo?" Fred looked at his twin, confused.

"His bobo?" George in turned looked at Luna.

"I don't know, did we bring his bobo?" She didn't have any more clue to what it might be, but didn't let it on lest Gideon should be distressed at not being understood.

"The red fire truck," Nox clarified and kneeled down to rummage in the backpack they had brought. "It's here somewhere..."

"At the bottom, no doubt," Charlie said, just as Nox pulled out the three inch long fire truck and handed it to her son, but didn't let go at once.

"Can you say fire truck?" she asked mildly. Gideon tried tugging at the toy, but soon discovered he wouldn't get it unless he granted her wish.

"Fire fuck," the boy muttered, making the three brothers break out in gales of laughter and Molly and Nox to go slightly red in the face.

"No, honey, fire _truck_," Nox tried again, determined to fix some of Gideon's mispronunciations and made-up words.

"Fire fuck," the boy repeated louder, looking anxiously around at his father and uncles, who were close to falling down on the floor.

"It's your bobo, let's call it that." Nox gave up, it was at least better to have the boy say that than go around cursing and being encouraged to do so by the twins' amusement. "Go up with your cousins now and you can play house." She gave him a small shove towards the two other children, who at once took hold of his hands and urged him up the stairs, loudly exclaiming over the nice colour of the 'fire fuck'.

"You've done it now," Fred gasped between laughter-snorts. "Fleur is really gonna thank you for that!"

"Oh, don't worry, her husband still slips up on yellow and calls it lallow now and then, she'll deal with it," Molly said, smiling.

"What, you mean Bill isn't perfect?" George shot in. "I'm shocked!"

"Didn't Percy go around calling bananas just nanas for forever?" Charlie asked, and Molly's smile widened, no doubt thinking about all the embarrassing things she could tell about her sons if she felt like it.

"None of you are perfect," Molly told them, "but you're my children, so I have to love you. Even when you show up at my doorstep looking like a bloody pulp with a bag of extremely dirty laundry slung over your shoulder." The last was directed at Charlie, and he opened his mouth several times to reply, but in the end just shook his head.

"Do you need any more help with the food?" Luna asked absentmindedly, her eyes and ears mostly focused upwards to the children's playing.

"Yes," Molly answered and flattened down the front of her skirts, getting down to business again. "Nox, bring that bowl of potato salad, will you?" Nox obeyed, taking the heavy bowl from the counter and together the women disappeared outside, leaving the brothers to their own devises.

"What else have you got going on, apart from the exploding hairbrushes?" Charlie asked.

"Well, there's the green elixir," Fred said as he took a seat and George sat down beside him.

"And what does that do?"

"Turn people green of course!" Fred said, tipping back his chair.

"Parts of them, at least," George amended. "We've yet to come up with two batches that turn the same parts green. Not sure if we'll bother fixing it or not."

"Adds to the thrill, won't you say, not knowing in what state of green-ness you'll find your victim," Fred said.

"And who have your victims been, so far?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. He hadn't noticed either Luna or Nox sporting a green nose, but then again, their legs could look like beds of weeds.

"No one," Fred answered. "Both Angelina and Lee have volunteered to test stuff for us."

"She didn't know about exactly that one, though, and nearly had a heart attack when she found her entire torso lime coloured. It clashed magnificently with her anger-red face." George grinned at the memory.

"Not quite as funny as when we gave her the soap-bubble hiccoughs, but good enough. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take someone seriously when they're hiccoughing and emitting soap bubbles from their noses every few seconds?" Fred leaned back and Charlie rolled his eyes, happy he wasn't close enough to be a test subject most of the time, and he took extremely caution whenever a package with the twins' handwriting on arrived.

"Otherwise you're doing fine? All four – five of you?" he asked instead.

"Yeah," George answered, looking suspicious. "Anything gave you a different idea?"

"No, it's just that I wondered how a household can contain two women at the same time without daily shouting matches," he said and shrugged.

"You don't know Nox and Luna," George said.

"If me and George decided not to live together any more they'd probably rather dump us than not live in the same house," Fred said.

"Not that I'm planning on leaving Fred, with the stress it was with getting him back to life," George said nonchalantly. Charlie had to agree, if the twins ever parted something was seriously wrong with the world.

"And about that, exactly how did you get back to life?" Charlie leaned forward, looking like he was determined to get a straight answer this time, the twins had let as good as nothing on about their adventures.

"Not telling," Fred answered, crossing his arms and leering.

"I just hope you haven't gone around messing with something bigger than you," Charlie said grimly.

"That's rich, coming from a man who works with dragons," George answered. Charlie was prevented from continuing his questioning by a piercing scream from above them and George shot out of the chair and up the stairs, convinced his son was being torn apart limb by limb. A confusing few minutes followed, with howling from all three children as their parents tried calming them down. George didn't know and didn't care where Bill and Ginny had materialised from, he was far too busy making sure Gideon didn't choke on his own sobs.

"Shh, Gideon, shh," he repeated over and over, trying not to let his distress show in his voice or think about the fact that the kid had a good grip on his hair and a knee to his kidney. "Hush now, it's all right, I'm here."

"What happened?" Bill asked, looking from one wailing child to the next.

"He didn't wanna play!" Dominique shrieked, then buried her face deep in her father's shirt front.

"He's stupid!" James contributed. "Stupid fuck!"

"James!" Ginny shouted, angry and scandalised. "Where did you learn that word?"

"I think he means truck," George offered with an apologetic look and tried preventing his son from curling up in a ball around his neck. "Gideon said it when Nox tried making him say fire truck. Where is that truck, by the way?"

"Stupid truck!" James said instead. "Stupid, stupid truck!" Bill had been scanning the room and found the fire truck on the bed, a dent in the wall suggesting it had been thrown. He tried handing it over to Gideon, but the boy was too caught up in his own misery to notice and George took it instead.

"Why didn't Gideon want to play?" Bill asked his daughter, who had stopped crying, but was still clinging to him.

"He said we did it wrong," Dominique answered, muffled into his chest. "I was Mum and James was Dad and Gideon was the baby, and then I asked if he wanted to be Dad, but he just said no!"

"Maybe he didn't want to play house," Ginny offered, as Gideon began throwing himself against George's body, howling again.

"Hush, now," George said, picking up his son and relocating to the bed, his legs were getting cramps from kneeling down so awkwardly. "You could just have said you wanted to play with your bobo instead. Here, I have your bobo here." He pried one of Gideon's hands off his shirt and put the toy in the small fist. Gideon hiccoughed, then drew the hand in between their bodies, hugging the toy.

"It's a truck," James said quietly and glowered at his cousin. Ginny put a hand to his cheek and turned his head to break the stare, then put him down.

"Come, Uncle Charlie wants you to show him the tadpoles," she said flatly, giving George a hard look, but he just hugged his son closer and returned the look as she exited with her son.

"That sounds like fun," Bill said, overly optimistic. "Let's go, Dom, I want to have a look at them, too." The look he gave George was more puzzled than hostile, as he too left with his child.

"Dada," Gideon muttered and sniffed, having relaxed in exhaustion.

"Yeah? You okay?" George asked, but the boy only sniffed again. Nox carefully peeked around the door frame, then came to sit beside them, stroking Gideon's hair.

"What happened?" she asked after a moment.

"A bit of a disagreement. I think Gideon had something else in mind than playing house," George said quietly, in a small hope the boy wouldn't hear. "I'm not sure who started it, but I suspect James wasn't the little angel Ginny makes him out to be."

"Little angel? From what she's told me, he's anything but," Nox said. "And as for playing house... Gideon, did you think you were going to watch House?" She took hold under the boy's chin and turned him a bit, not enough to make him look at her, but enough for him to let go of the death-grip on George.

"They say House," the boy said and wiped at his nose with the back of his hand.

"What do you mean, 'watch House'?" George said. "There has to be more interesting things to do than watch a house, and you can't very well do it inside."

"Not _a _house, House M.D., the TV show," Nox said. "You remember?"

"The one with the miserable old bastard that goes around almost killing people? You let him watch that?" George's eyes went round. "No wonder he's cursing."

"His father isn't setting the best example, either," Nox answered dryly. "And he likes the medicine- stuff, he doesn't care for the drama-bits."

"Still, it's far from a children's show! I'm not sure I'd even let Ginny watch it, it's nasty," George said, shuddering.

"You know Ginny is the same age as Luna, and you frequently truck her." Nox grinned at him.

"You've been influenced too much by Fred and Mum, a bad combination," George said and snorted, half in amusement. "I liked you much better when you freaked out over that the world actually contains ghosts and werewolves."

"And I liked the mansion much better when I could open the kitchen door without being privy to a look of your naked butt," she countered. "That door has a lock, too!"

"You're just jealous," he answered.

"Of what? Fred is in a much better shape than you." It was partly true, since Fred hadn't aged a day the years he had been dead he had a bit of a younger body than George, and the latter had started to show signs of softening the closer he got to middle age.

"Not like that. You want Luna all to yourself, don't you?" He was obviously poking fun of her, and she knew her face showed she had taken the bait.

"No, I don't," she answered, a bit stiffly. "If the circumstances hadn't been as they were, I probably wouldn't have given her a second look."

"But you have given her a look or two?" George was grinning from ear to ear, having forgotten the dozing child in his arms.

"I mean as a friend," Nox said firmly. "And you know it. I was a bit tense before... well, before I met you lot."

"You're still quite tense," George told her, "but I guess you've got a bit better over the years."

"I've got loads better. You're still as hopeless, though." She smiled back at him and patted Gideon's head, bringing the child awake again. "Come, let's go down and see if the food's ready."

The food wasn't quite ready, but they all went out and George carried Gideon with him to the pond, all the talk of tadpoles had made him a bit curious. Some of the twins' first pranks had involved tadpoles, earth worms and other yucky stuff deposited in shoes, beds, and once in a jar of biscuits, although that joke was on them, the biscuits ended up being too slimy to eat.

"Look, Gideon," George said, having sat down on the muddy ground with no consideration of his trousers. Carefully he leaned forward and scooped a couple of the wriggling tadpoles from the dirty water into his hand, and the boy seemed inclined to look for a moment, then snuggled his face against George's shoulder with a moan. "You're not hungry, are you?" It had been a while since they last ate and even George looked forward to some food soon, especially since the air was thick with the smell of his mother's cooking. A shadow fell over them and George looked up to find Bill, a couple of hot-dogs in his hand.

"Care for a bite?" He leaned down and handed one of the hot-dogs to Gideon, who first looked very suspicious, but did take it. "Most of the kids are getting a little cranky, I figured this would tide them over 'til the women make up their minds as to what kind and how many candlesticks we need on the table," he explained to George.

"As long as there's enough light for me to tell if my plate is full or empty, I really don't care," George answered as Gideon got up, sucking the hot-dog dreamily and made off towards the back of the house where the tables had been set up and were in the process of being decorated. "Where are you going?"

"Auntie Loony," the boy answered, hardly loud enough for them to make out and obstructed by the food in his mouth.

"That kid can't be mine," George muttered. Bill chuckled in return and sat down beside him, choosing a spot with the least amount of mud possible.

"He looks like you," Bill said, but George just shook his head. While Gideon might have a certain resemblance in body build and he did in fact have George's nose, the rest was a bottomless mystery. He had no liking for jokes or pranks, not even a bit of rough playing or anything George would call playing at all. The kid could already read at an astonishing speed for his age, and did so frequently. "And he screams like you."

"Very funny," George said. "He's dry as a stick and so dependent of rules and routine that all hell breaks lose if one itsy-bitsy detail is off." Even George knew that was putting it on the edge, but the kid made even his mother look like a close relative of Peeves.

"There's nothing... wrong with him, is there?" Bill asked carefully, looking down at the sausage in his hand.

"He's autistic," George answered, his voice a bit harder than necessary. They hadn't exactly told the family, mostly because they hadn't seen the need to, and in George's eyes there wasn't anything wrong with Gideon and he didn't need to put a label on what he was, even if he was the polar opposite of the twins.

"What does that actually mean?" Bill asked, still softly. Actually, he said it as softly as if George had told him the kid was dying, which annoyed him a bit.

"Basically what I already said, he likes rules and takes thing literary. If you say to him 'go jump off a bridge', he will go looking for a bridge to jump off of." George shrugged, the example he had chosen was a rather grim one, but his son's ability not to see things figuratively had at least made him jump to Fred's rescue when Nox had accused the former of having a big head. The boy had promptly set the facts straight and said that the circumference of his uncle's skull was no larger than the average, which had caused the whole scene to dissolve into laughter.

"He can be quite a handful, then?" Bill asked, sticking his fingers down in the water and scaring away a couple of feeding tadpoles. They soon came back to investigate.

"Both yes and no," George answered and sighed. "When he's quiet, he's very quiet, but when he's not – well, you saw what happens then."

"A bit more than the normal tantrum," Bill agreed. "Does it happen often?"

"A bit back and forth," George answered with a shrug. "It depends on how much we're working and who he's set his mind on being with. We've tried bringing him with us to the shop, when me and Fred are just at the registers, but he gets scared by all the strangers. It's part of the autism-thing, he doesn't like strangers."

"That's probably why Dom said he was rude," Bill said with a small smile. "They haven't seen each other that much, after all."

"I'm sorry to say it, but he sees everyone except me, Fred, Nox and Luna as strangers," George said. "He was even scared of Mum, and we've tried keeping close contact with her for baby-sitting purposes." Even with the four of them, situations did arise where they were all busy and it would be good to have a back-up plan. So far they had been forced to make one of them cancel their appointment, Gideon went all pale and sweaty just at the mentioning of someone else staying with him, even for just a couple of hours.

"I thought you had him in a day care? Aren't those strangers?" Bill didn't seem much comforted by the things he had been told.

"We did. For about three months, and it nearly killed him," George said darkly, staring out at the muddy pond. "He stopped eating and sleeping and would cry all the way there. We couldn't keep doing that to him. It was the day care that spotted something was off with him, though, and got us to take him to a doctor."

"Why not the Healers at St. Mungo's?" Bill asked, his brows knotted at the story.

"Nox wanted to bring him to some Muggle doctor, so we did," George said with a small shrug. "I don't think there's much anyone can do for him, except try to keep him happy."

"And is he?"

"He's doing well enough now," George said, shooting a small smile at his brother.

"So are you," Bill told him, putting his arm around his brother's shoulders. "I'd never imagined either you or Fred as a father, and now you both are, in a way. Although..."

"What horrible thing are you gonna ask now?" George said half-teasingly, he recognised that tone as the one Bill used when about to say something he rather didn't want to, but had to out of morbid curiosity.

"Just... how do you do it, with Fred dating Nox and you being Gideon's father?" Bill said, avoiding the real question. "I mean, both of us know how babies are made. Do you and Fred ever... switch?" George had been spot on about the morbidity of his oldest brother's curiosity.

"I thought we'd made it very clear, about a hundred times, that what was between me and Nox only happened once and we were both plastered," George said. "I don't know what's more disturbing, that you think I've got the hots for Nox or that you think I'd rent out my girlfriend! To put it this way, if Charlie moved in with you to help with the kids, would you let him bang Fleur?" Bill looked quite put off.

"Fine, sorry, I shouldn't have asked," he muttered, retracting his arm. To George's relief, Bill wasn't allowed to ask anything more, as they heard running footsteps behind them and got themselves up and out of the way just in time as Fred charged towards them.

"Told you it wouldn't work!" Charlie shouted at him, coming towards them.

"It could have," Fred retorted, then turned to his twin. "So, when's the wedding? You and Bill looked so cute, cuddling together."

"Ha, ha," George answered dryly.

"That's all you got?" Fred challenged. George gave him him a narrow look, one corner of his mouth turned up. It didn't take many seconds of the twins sizing each other up before George lunged, butting Fred in the chest and making them both topple over.

"Hey! Hey!" Charlie tried making himself heard over the racket of the twins rolling and thrashing on the ground, to no avail.

"Don't bother," Bill told him as Charlie bent down to drag the twins apart, and was rewarded by one of them taking hold of his leg and yanking, making him fall over in the melee and once that far, he seemed much more inclined to join in on the wrestling than breaking it up. Bill rolled his eyes as the ball of arms and legs and half-heard insults almost tumbled into the pond, but changed direction at the last moment. Suddenly all three of them curled up in different directions, groaning and clutching their groins. Bill turned to see their sister pointing her wand at them, surrounded by several of the other women.

"They're never gonna grow up, are they?" Ginny said and sighed as she lowered the wand.

"What was that?" Nox asked, as Charlie dragged himself up on his knees, glowering through wetness in his eyes at his sister.

"A self-defence spell," she answered, about to turn back to the tables.

"It's bad enough that you've got married, do you have to assault my balls, too?" Charlie said, his voice croaking.

"Get over yourself," she answered. "And it wasn't even that powerful. If I wanted to, it'd been much worse." She gave him a sly smile, then went back to the table for the last preparations.

"You okay?" George wheezed at Fred, they were both curled up on their sides facing each other.

"Just hope Nox is content with just Gideon, 'couse I think I'm unable to give her any kids now," he answered and groaned.

Luckily, the effects of the spell didn't last long and ten minutes later the twins were seated with the rest at the table, chatting and eating to their hearts' content. Gideon had been placed between them, and had hardly tried any of the three types of potatoes on his plate and only nibbled at the hot-dog.

"You're not having anything of that mash?" Fred asked the boy, scooping up a bit of the mashed potatoes on his fork. "I'll take a bit, then, don't want it to go to waste."

"My food!" the boy answered fiercely, glowering out from under his fringe as Fred directed the fork towards his own mouth.

"Then you better eat some, it's delicious," Fred said, stuffing the fork into the boy's mouth before he had time to protest. Gideon swallowed, looking a bit surprised, then picked up his own fork.

"You like it?" George asked from the other side, seeing the boy poke at the potato salad before taking more of the mash. "Good."

A bit further down the table it was clear that Charlie was not inclined to forgive his sister very easily for the assault, and had made sure to be seated opposite her. "I can take a lot of things, but that was just plain rude," he told her through a mouthful of food.

"Because rolling around in the dirt like so many stray dogs while we're busy getting dinner ready is the height of sophisticated behaviour?" she answered, lifting her brow. "And whatever did you mean, it's bad enough that I've got married?"

"You're all grown up, I don't like it. You're supposed to run around in a flowery dress showing off your scraped knees and begging me to take you on my broom," he answered and reached for the ketchup.

"It wasn't me who fled the country directly after getting out of school," she shot back. "And I'm much better on a broom than you."

"Good enough for a girl," he muttered.

"And how many Quidditch teams have you been on, except the Gryffindor team?" She looked smugly at him.

"Break it up now, the two of you," Molly broke in. They both looked up at her at the end of the table, giving her apologetic smiles, there really wasn't anything serious going on.

"You still do a bit of writing for the Prophet?" Charlie asked Ginny instead and she nodded while chewing industriously to get her mouth free to answer.

"Yeah, working on a longer article about children and brooms now. I have the inspiration very near at hand," she answered, shooting a look at her oldest son, who had managed to smear potato salad and grease over most of his face.

"I'm sure Nox can help you a bit with that," Fred shot in, having had half an ear to their conversation. "First rule, make sure the kid sticks to his own broom, second, stay clear of any stairs." He grinned and Nox punched him in the thigh, not too gently.

"What happened?" Ginny was all ears at once.

"Nothing serious," Nox tried deflecting the question with, but Fred had already leaned towards his sister to make himself heard over the general racket.

"Me and George had been playing a bit yesterday, for old time's sake, and Nox thought it was perfectly okay for Gideon to try one of our brooms." He grinned, and Nox suppressed the urge to hit him again.

"I didn't say it was okay for him to take it," she said to her own defence. "The twins hadn't tidied up after themselves and Gideon took it without anyone's permission."

"And the stairs?" Ginny asked, her forehead heavily creased with concern.

"Nothing happened, Luna saved him," Nox answered and turned back to her plate.

"This could use a bit of dirigible plum juice," Luna noted through a mouthful, making Percy try to strike up a conversation with her, which quickly left him looking confused. All in all the dinner went down as a nice event and by the time the desserts came, the youngest children had began nodding off.

"Mum, you're a sadist," Fred said, halfway through his serving of vanilla ice-cream and fresh strawberries. "First thirteen delicious recipes of delicious things, then _this! _I won't be able to move for a week." He belched, barely bothering to cover his mouth.

"I'm glad you like it," his mother answered, beaming.

"And now I have to piss, too." He got up, groaning a bit as his belly threatened to burst, or at least make the whole meal come up again, and didn't notice the less-than-friendly looks directed at his back by his language.

"You didn't have to drink all that beer, though," Nox pointed out, looking at the amount of empty bottled around the twins' plates.

"Yes, we did," George answered, just as stuffed and unable to move as his twin.

"Take Gideon with you, I think he needs the toilet, too," Luna told Fred. The boy had curled up on her lap, but had got increasingly restless the last few minutes.

"Come on, buddy." Fred took the boy by the hand after he had been set down on the ground, not caring that it seemed the thumb of the hand he grabbed had been sucked recently. Although he was very glad to be back in his body, there was some unfortunate side effects he had managed to forget while being dead, like hunger, a bloated belly after trying to relieve that too eagerly, having to use the toilet, and sleepiness. He'd got used to it again, and sometimes he was so happy to be alive just the caress of the air on his skin seemed like a blessing. A few pains now and then was a small price to pay.

"Five sickles says Charlie's gonna fall off his chair any minute," George told Luna quietly enough for the man in question not to hear. Not that it seemed likely he was paying attention to anything at all where he was swaying and blinking like an owl.

"No, he's just falling asleep where he sits," she answered, smiling at him. "Are you?"

"If I do, will you carry me home?" he said, answering her smile lazily.

"I don't think I can. Maybe Ron can help me." She reached out a hand to him he took it, cradling it slowly in his larger hand.

"Not sure if I want him in my bedroom, though," George whispered. Ron was still discussing something with his father and Hermione, doubtless to do with the Ministry, and seemed to have forgotten about the sleeping toddler in his lap.

"Maybe we should head home, before any of us falls asleep," Nox suggested, she had nearly eaten herself into a stupor, among with the half of the other adults who hadn't completed the feat entirely. Charlie kept swaying and almost fell off his chair, but saved himself in time and simply pushed his plate out of the way to rest his head on his folded arms instead.

"Let's wait 'til Fred comes back and finishes his ice-cream," George said and yawned, "or he'll go on about it for days."

"We could start by tidying up after ourselves in the meantime," Luna said and began gathering together her own and George's cutlery and plates.

"Don't worry, dear, you helped get it ready, I'm sure we'll do fine if you rather want to go home," Molly said and placed her hand on Charlie's shoulder. He grunted, but didn't look up, trying to get as much out of his nap as possible before having to do the dishes. Fred and Gideon returned to them and the boy crawled up on Fred's lap and settled there with a couple of fingers in his mouth.

"I'm gonna need help finishing this," Fred said and sighed, looking down at the melting ice-cream. Nox plucked one of the strawberries off his plate, savouring the sweetness of it and closed her eyes as she swallowed, that was about as much more as she could take. "Come on, kiddo, we can do this together." Taking a bit of the ice-cream and a couple of berries on his spoon, Fred removed the fingers from his nephew's mouth and inserted the spoon. Gideon didn't open his eyes, but smacked his lips audibly and caused most of the ice-cream to run down his chin, which his mother wiped off at once.

"Is he okay?" Ginny asked, leaning over the table to get a look at Gideon, who hadn't closed his mouth again properly.

"Just tired," Fred answered and attacked the rest of the ice-cream with grim determination. "George, give me a hand."

"Here." George held his hand in front of Fred's face. Fred looked up at him, then concluded they had both eaten too much for another wrestling match and instead grabbed a random spoon from the table and put it in his twin's hand. Together they had soon finished off the plate and afterwards let out identical burps.

"With your manners, people must think you grew up in the woods," Molly said and shook her head.

"Oh, we're very civilised in comparison to Charlie," George said.

"He did grow up in the woods here," Fred said, which made Charlie raise his head and give him a tired look.

"I mostly went there to get away from the two of you," he told them, as Nox rummaged through the backpack at her feet to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Gideon had been very well-behaved and they hadn't needed the extra change of clothes, and he had placed his toys back after he was done playing with them, so everything seemed to be in order.

"Love you, too, Charles," Fred said and relocated Gideon, who seemed like a comatose bag of potatoes, to his hip before standing up.

"But not as much as we love our ladies," George said and grinned. "Tell me, anyone special in your life, Charlie? Anyone you'd like to introduce to the family? Anyone who warms your heart, or your bed?" The last made Charlie glare at him.

"I'm happy by myself," he said, before Molly should begin questioning him, she looked eager enough to do it. "It's nice that all of you got girlfriends and children, but I'm doing well enough on my own."

"But Charlie, wouldn't it be nice to have a girl to cook and clean for you? And do your laundry?" Molly asked, the last laced with a bit of annoyance.

"I got you, Mum," he answered and smiled at her. "You're the only woman I need in my life, and no one can compare with you." Luckily that was flattering enough for her to leave the subject and instead turn to Nox.

"I hope you had a good time," Molly said, as she hugged and kissed Luna and Nox good-bye, as well as touching the twins' shoulders and stroking Gideon's cheek. The kid seemed to be completely out for the night.

"We had a great time," Nox assured her. "Maybe you could teach me a bit of cooking sometimes? Everything tasted amazing."

"No!" Fred protested at once. "Don't encourage her to go near the stove, she can't even boil tea water."

"Then it's about time she learns a bit," Molly answered, frowning for a moment. "We'll start off with something simple. After all, you don't need magic to make a good meal."

"It comes in handy sometimes, though," Luna said, looking up at the stars with a blank expression. "But you better wait a few days before trying, Nox."

"Why?" Nox asked, just as Fred made a sound of distaste and tipped Gideon away from his body, revealing a wet stain going from the boy's crotch and down his uncle's shirt.

"Didn't you just go to the loo?" George asked his sleeping son and took him into his own arms, looking down at the relaxed face.

"Didn't mean he took a leak then," Fred said annoyed and did a drying spell on his own clothes.

"Don't worry, it's not unusual for boys to need a night-time nappy a while after they've been potty trained," Molly told them with an understanding smile. "And accidents happen."

After a bit more of saying good-bye and making sure they hadn't left any crucial things, they departed for Weasley Manor. Fred and Nox took the job of getting Gideon cleaned and into his pyjamas while Luna and George got themselves ready for bed.

"Huh." George had just taken off his shirt, revealing a bruise on his upper ribs, just underneath his armpit.

"Does it hurt?" Luna asked, coming over to put her hand over the blue area, it was bigger than her palm.

"Not really. Guess Fred or Charlie kicked me." He shrugged and gave her a tender smile.

"You're quite drunk, aren't you?" she asked softly, tracing the outlines of his muscles with her fingertip.

"Maybe a bit," he admitted and put his arms around her with a sigh, then drew in the sweet, fresh smell of her, like drying hay and hyssops.

"I like it when you're a bit drunk," she whispered, caressing his naked back.

"I'm also dead tired," he answered, nuzzling his face against her head. "I think I'm getting old."

"We're always getting older, every minute," she pointed out. "But you're only as old as you feel."

"Then I'm about a hundred and three right now." He chuckled quietly. "I have no idea how Bill does it."

"Do what?"

"Raising three kids and have any energy left for his wife," George answered. "The outline of Fleur's knickers mysteriously disappeared before dinner, but they were surely there earlier." She didn't seem remotely put off by the notion that he had noticed, and that was one of the things he loved about her, he could say just about anything without being misunderstood.

"They disappeared to the shed," she answered, surprising him. "Her knickers, at least, and I would think the lines went with them."

"How do you know that?" He raised his head and looked at her face, being met with her innocent grey eyes.

"Your father wanted to show me a skull he had found. I think it was from a unicorn, it was very shiny, possibly from a thestral." Her nose wrinkled a bit as she tried making up her mind about what was more likely.

"And the knickers?" George asked, not quite as interested in the skull. She removed something from her pocket and he was slightly shocked to see it was a pair of lacy underwear with small, pink roses embroidered on them. Absolutely something Fleur might wear, and it looked to be her size, too. "Goodness, Luna, you can't just go around with my sister-in-law's knickers in your pocket!"

"I was going to give them back to her, but I never got the chance," she defended herself with. "Do you think I should owl them to her?"

"If she's stupid enough to leave them in the shed, her loss," he answered, getting a mental image a bit too vivid for his liking of the activity that had caused them to end up there. "How could they, anyway? There were people all over the place, including Mum and Dad, and a bunch of kids!"

"Don't you think it sounds a bit... exciting?" she asked, putting the knickers down on the night stand.

"No!" he answered, shuddering. "What if someone came in?"

"What if," she echoed and put her lips to his neck, leaving several small kisses. "What if no one knew and it was our little secret and we had to hurry?" George sighed, she had the ability to make him weak in the knees at once.

"What if someone saw us through the windows?" he tried half-heartedly.

"What if we did it in the darkest corner, hidden away, fast and passionate..." She pressed her body to his and he buried his face in her hair.

"You're gonna kill me, woman," he muttered and let go of her, holding her at arm's length to look into her sincere face. "I'm tired, I need to sleep. Do you understand that?"

"Of course I do," she answered and gave him a tender smile. "But next time we're at your parents..."

"Maybe. If I'm not stuffed like a Christmas goose again." He let his arms drop and finished undressing, trying not to look as she peeled of her tight jeans.

"I wanted to surprise you with something, but it can wait 'til the morning," she said when they were both tucked in.

"You've already surprised me more than enough," he answered, although he knew he shouldn't be taken aback by anything she did any more. "What is it?"

"A surprise," she answered and rolled up on her elbow to play with his hair. "Do you want to hear it now?"

"As good a time as ever," he answered and pulled her down in a kiss.

"I'm pregnant," she said softly and he repeated the kiss.

**OoO**

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Fred had laid down on the bed without getting undressed and was watching Nox wrench off her clothes.

"Not nearly often enough," she retorted dryly.

"Too bad. You really are," he said dreamily as she tried getting her t-shirt over her head. "Slow down a bit, will you?" She stopped, then looked at him before slowly taking hold of the hem and pulling the t-shirt over her head. It still caught on her ears and she had to yank a bit before it came loose.

"Are you going to sleep like that?" she asked, bending down with her back to him to get off her socks and heard a content sigh.

"What if I am? It's not like you can get me undressed by yourself," he said, which was very true, as it had taken both of them just to get Gideon undressed and then dressed again in his pyjamas, she would get nowhere with Fred.

"Not my problem, either," she said, getting in under the cover and groaned as her back relaxed. He smiled a bit, watching her settle for the night, listening to all the small sounds she made. "I've been thinking about something, though. School."

"Yeah?" He was only half-listening and far more interested in the way her lips had relaxed, but now tightened a bit again and her lashes lowered.

"And Gideon," she said at last and drew a deep breath.

"Do we have to worry about that now? It's years 'til he starts Hogwarts," Fred muttered and reached out a hand to smooth back her hair.

"I didn't mean Hogwarts," she said quietly. "I want him to have a normal – Muggle – education. But..."

"But what?" Fred said. "He's a wizard, he should go to Hogwarts." Even if it hadn't been a lot, Gideon had shown some signs of magic, like getting things to blow up when he was angry. Luckily that hadn't happened many times, but Fred had also noticed some other small things that leaned him towards the belief the boy had inherited his father's magical abilities.

"Maybe he should, but as you said, it's years 'til he starts there, if he does, and I want him to have a basic education anyway," she said, pleating the sheet between her fingers.

"He's getting into Hogwarts," Fred insisted. "But if you want him to go to a Muggle school in the meantime, that's fine."

"It's just..." She wasn't lying still under the covers and Fred rolled over on his side with a groan to put a supportive arm around her. "I'm not sure if we can make him go. He... with... I don't want..." She stopped stuttering and a couple of tears ran down her cheeks.

"I see," he whispered. With the trouble they had had when Gideon was in day-care it seemed difficult to make him go to school.

"I've read about a couple of schools that have good special needs classes, but I don't know – don't know if that's enough." She wasn't quite sobbing, but not far from.

"Shh." He stroked her back slowly. "We'll work it out, maybe Luna can go with him in the beginning. What's a special needs class?"

"It's a class for kids like Gideon, who needs a bit more looking after or have more trouble learning than other kids," she said and sniffed. "The classes are smaller and there are more teachers and often they've got a bit extra education to cope with the needs of the pupils."

"Sounds good, doesn't it?" he said, it seemed like exactly what Gideon needed.

"Yeah," she said dubiously. "But..."

"Enough with the buts," he said and sat up to get undressed. "We'll talk about it in the morning with Luna and George, okay?"

"Okay," she said after a minute while he got under the covers. "But..."

"What did I say?" He put his forehead to hers, then kissed her nose. "We'll sleep now."

"He should start this September. It isn't that long until." She was still distressed about the thought and Fred gathered her close and made her rest her head on his shoulder.

"It won't make a big difference if we wait 'til tomorrow," he said and yawned as she circled his nipple with her index finger. "Oy, move your elbow!" She removed her elbow from his stomach, but didn't stop caressing his nipple in a worried way.

"Do you think it's enough? What we do for him?" she whispered.

"We do everything we can for him," he answered softly. "What more can anyone possibly do?"

"It's just... Ginny said something and..."

"What did she say?" he asked and yawned again, feeling his body go slacker and slacker, muscle by muscle relaxing.

"Nothing. It was nothing," Nox said and moved over to her own pillow again, but she still seemed to be brooding over something.

"We'll talk in the morning, okay? I'm too tired to make sense of anything right now." He found her hand under the blanket and gave it a good squeeze, reassuring her he did take her worries seriously, but he wasn't up to discussing it at the moment. "Try to sleep now."

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, Luna is still not a pervert, it's just that I for some reason see the twins, especially George, to be a bit traditional on the subject of bedroom activities, in that they should be conducted in the bedroom, or at the very least, in their own house, while Luna is more of an explorer and likes pushing the limits a little, especially when they're George's, telling him that he isn't king of the world and she can be in charge when she wants to. Fred is also a limit pusher (especially if it can annoy Nox) and it's a good thing he isn't with Luna, they'd end up doing it in a dragon's nest or something. <strong>


	18. Quite a Turmoil

**AN: Suddenly got the idea I should upload this chapter, since it's been sitting on my hard drive for a while doing nothing good, but I'm afraid this is the last for a while and this story may die like the rest of my stories have a tendency of doing.**

* * *

><p>The next morning Fred shuffled into the bathroom and sat down on the toilet lid, looking up at George with heavy eyes. George quirked an eyebrow at him, but continued shaving.<p>

"What is it with women and having to talk after getting into bed?" Fred said and scratched his head while yawning.

"You tell me," George answered. "Looks like she kept you up all night."

"Not really." Fred gave a lazy smile, he knew he looked horrible and didn't feel much better. He had slept like he had been poleaxed and had far from woken properly yet. "Nox wants to send Gideon to a Muggle school."

"Understandable," George said, shaving his upper lip. "She went to one herself, after all."

"He's going to Hogwarts, though," Fred said and went over to turn on the shower.

"Probably," George said as Fred got undressed. "But that's a few years 'til. Would be good for him to get used to being away from us for a bit before that, I think."

"Wouldn't be better to wait 'til he's older with the whole ordeal?" Fred asked. "I mean, we tried with the day care and that went down the drain."

"It's over a year since the day care," George pointed out, wiping his chin. "I think he's grown a bit since then. And we can take time off to go with him in the beginning, Lee handles the shop like it's nothing."

"You think he'll take that better, if we say we'll all going to school with him?" Fred ran a hand through his hair again, it already stood out in every possible directions.

"He usually doesn't have any objections if we go with him," George said and shrugged. "Then we just have to hope for the best and that he doesn't freak out over being surrounded by strangers."

"Nox said something about some special classes and stuff," Fred said, leaning back against the wall. "With fewer people and more... Godric knows, I was already half asleep."

"I'll have a talk with her, but it sounds okay," George said. If it was one thing Gideon hated more than strangers it was crowds of strangers. "Now, are you going to stand there butt naked all day or get in the shower?"

"Getting jealous, fatty?" Fred mocked as he stepped over the edge of the bathtub and into the shower.

"You wish," George answered and sat down on the toilet lid himself. "Luna's pregnant."

"Really? Took you long enough," Fred said, looking for the shampoo and locating it on the edge of the bathtub.

"And that's supposed to mean...?"

"You only needed one round with Nox to get her knocked up, you've used years to manage the same with Luna," Fred answered cheerfully.

"You're not still on about that, are you?" George said edgily.

"Not really," Fred said and spat out the soapy water. "You managed to get her naked once when she was too wasted to know up from down, I can get her naked any time I want, and just as intoxicated just by looking at her."

"You're gonna get yourself killed again," George muttered under his breath, sometimes his twin's ego was big enough to baffle even him. "And we've been careful. Not careful enough, apparently, but..."

"When's she's having the little brat?" Fred asked, lathering up again.

"No idea, she only told me last night," George answered. "Probably not for a while."

"She doesn't look pregnant yet," Fred pointed out, his voice distorted through the running water. "You ready for another kid?"

George snorted. "I wasn't ready for the first one."

"You've got a bit of experience now," Fred said, shutting off the water and grabbing his towel. "And Nox will probably help out, since Luna's helped so much with Gideon."

"But you're staying out of it?" George couldn't help but grin at his twin. "You've got a lot of dirty nappies to catch up on."

"It's your and Loony's kid, I've got nothing to do with it," Fred said, muffled through the towel. "But I guess, if you insist, I'll keep an eye on it from time to time."

"What would I do without you?" George said sarcastically.

"Go insane," Fred answered with a smile. "And it was half my effort that you got together with Luna in the first place."

"How the hell do you make that out?" George asked.

"You weren't acting yourself when – after the war, before I came back," Fred said quietly with a shrug. "You didn't like me being just a ghost."

"Of course I didn't like it!" George said. "It's not the most comfortable thing having an icy cold ghost glide through your internal organs, no matter how close we've always been."

"And therefore I had to bring out the good old George I, and Luna for that matter, knew," Fred concluded. "You tried acting like it was fine, but did you really think you could fool me? I don't think you could've fooled a blind man."

"Who said I was trying to fool anyone?" George said hotly.

"Calm down," Fred said, dropping the towel on the floor. "If it had been you who'd been the ghost I don't think I'd dealt any better with it."

"You dealt badly enough with it as it was," George said moodily, making Fred raise his eyebrows. "'Oooh, look at me, I'm a ghost, I can walk through walls!'"

"That was only in the beginning," Fred huffed.

"As if. You're no better actor than me," George said, then sighed. "Let's just forget about it, okay? It's in the past."

"Yeah, and I'm back with you now," Fred said and slapped his hand on George's back. "And that's what matters, right?"

"Yeah," George muttered, looking down at the floor. "I kinda miss the time before, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Just... maybe we could take a night in the flat at the shop, just for old time's sake?" George shrugged, but was surprised when Fred took him into his arms.

"Don't worry, ickle Georgie-kins, we'll take a night by ourselves away from those pesky girls and eat Bertie Botts and Acid Pops and Cauldron Cakes and drown ourselves in Butterbeer," Fred said in a mock-sweetly voice while patting George's hair.

"I wouldn't go insane without you, you're the reason I'm going insane," George muttered and pushed Fred away, but did smile.

"We need a guys' night out, though," Fred said. "Just the two of us, or should we invite Lee?"

"I guess he could stop by," George said and shrugged again.

"Fine, no Lee, just the two of us," Fred said resigned and drew a deep breath. "You really need this, don't you?"

"I'm a wee bit flustered over having another kid, okay?" George said, chewing his lip. "I just need to get out of the house."

"You're right about that," Fred chuckled and picked up the towel to drape it around his hips.

"Shut up, will you?" George said, but didn't mean it. They exited the bathroom and went separate ways, Fred to get dressed and George to find some breakfast.

"Congratulations," Nox told him when he entered the kitchen, putting down her cup of coffee.

"She told you already?" George asked and shot a look at Luna, who had forgot the toast in her hand half-way to her mouth.

"You've already told Fred, haven't you?" Nox said knowingly and he shrugged.

"You know what I really want?" Luna said suddenly and put down the toast.

"No," George said, but Luna seemed to have forgotten she had spoken.

"Tell us what you want," Nox said, getting up to fill her mug again, but stopped halfway and grinned. "Tell me what you want, what you really, really want."

"I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want," Luna retorted, taking the reference at once and grinned back at Nox.

"So tell me what you want, what you really, really want," Nox continued, her grin widening, while George looked confused from her to his girlfriend.

"I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, really, really, really wanna zigazig ah!" the two woman chorused.

"What the..." George was dumbfounded and convinced both the women had lost their minds.

"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,

Make it last forever, friendship never ends,

If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,

Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is," Luna and Nox sang, the latter began dancing, or at least flailing her arms enough to almost knock down her coffee mug from the counter.

"I'll put that on the list of things you can't do; sing," Fred told his girlfriend, coming in to hear the last lines.

"You keep a list?" Nox answered, sitting down again and stroking Gideon's back to bring him out of the daze caused by the improvised singing.

"Don't worry, the list over things you can do is almost as long," Fred retorted. "Like trip on thin air and setting the house on fire by making toast."

"Why am I dating that thing again?" Nox asked the ceiling.

"What just happened?" George said at last.

"One of my darker secrets made its way up through fifteen layer of subconsciousness," Nox answered and shrugged. "I hate that I love that song, but I can't help it."

"It's a nice song, there's no need to hate it," Luna said. "It's got a nice rhythm and it is really a secret confession of the existence of the Crumpled-Horned Snorkack."

"If you say so," George said. "But back to what you really, really want."

"I want to get married," she said, fixing her eyes on him. Her voice was far from hard, but still had a firmness not usually heard with her.

"To me?" George asked, his eyebrows disappearing under his fringe.

"No, to Victoria Beckham," Nox said sarcastically, wiping porridge from Gideon's chin.

"Yes, to you," Luna said, giving him an eye suggesting he could try protesting and she would enjoy the show.

"Well," George said slowly, rubbing his chin. "I guess..."

"For Heaven's sake, you've lived together for five years!" Fred interrupted.

"You've lived with Nox longer," George pointed out.

"Not as a girlfriend," Fred said, shrugging. "Wanna get married, Noxy?"

"Not on the threat of disembodiment," she retorted.

"Ah, it's not too bad," Fred said, "but I'll take that as a temporary no."

"George, listen," Luna said, the small edge gone from her voice as she got up and took his hands in hers. "I want to do this the proper way. We love each other and we're having a baby, why can't we get married, too?"

"I didn't say we couldn't," he said, craning his neck to be closer to her face. "You just took me by surprise. Again."

"So, shall we?" she asked, her large grey eyes inches from his own.

"I'll be honoured to have you as my wife," he answered quietly and kissed her. Fred promptly made retching noises behind their backs and Nox hit him.

"I though you were against marriages?" Fred asked Nox, rubbing the spot on his arm where she had hit.

"I'm not against marriages, I'm just against me getting married," she answered and shrugged. "You weren't asking seriously, were you?"

"You never know, do you?" he answered and kissed her. She protested for a moment, then gave in, if he was serious the question would pop up again soon enough, and then he better do it properly.

"You'll be Mrs. Weasley, then?" George whispered to Luna, having pulled her into her arms. "Which reminds me, let's just tell Mum we're getting married and maybe not wait too long with the wedding. Probably won't be able to get away with it all, but it can't hurt."

"You're still scared of her, aren't you?" Nox asked, remembering what a wreck George had turned into the last time he told Molly he was becoming a father.

"I respect her as one of the primary forces of nature, somewhere between earthquakes and thunderstorms," George answered.

"You do realise she'll be all over me now, right?" Fred said and covered his face with his hands. "You remember how it was when Ron got married? She dropped hints the size of Hagrid's underpants."

"Marry Nox, problem solved," George said with a devious smile, causing his twin to throw a towel at him.

"I'm not marrying just to please your mother," Nox objected, feeling this conversation was getting a bit too close for her liking.

"At least we agree on something," Fred said, to her relief. A moment later, though, he got down on his knee beside her, making her heart jump into her throat. "Gertrude Nox Wolfe, will you agree to share my bed for the foreseeable future, put up with me loving you in every way possible and not marry unless that's the only possible way for us not to be ripped out of each other's loving embraces?"

"Can't say no to that, I guess," she answered, and he stood up to kiss her. "You're a real doofus sometimes."

"What a doofus?" Gideon asked, reminding them of his presence in the room.

"It's people like me and your father," Fred said and scooped the boy up on his arm. "Although, your father is a bigger one."

"Oh, you're both loveable doofuses," Luna said. "Gideon, do you like that me and Daddy are having a baby?"

"Baby?" The boy looked blankly at her.

"Yeah, a little child, like your cousin Louis" George said. The boy looked just as blank, he apparently hadn't noticed Bill and Fleur's youngest kid at the dinner the day before.

"You were a baby, when you were really young. We showed you pictures of how tiny you were, remember?" Nox said, which seemed to make the idea of a baby click with Gideon.

"How you get it?" he asked, stuffing his fingers in his mouth, which Fred quickly extracted again.

"Well," George said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It gets here by... It's a..."

"The baby is growing inside my belly," Luna said, saving George from picking one of the many stories parents told children when trying to explain the miracle of life.

"You ate it?" Gideon asked, looking at her midsection so hard he was squinting.

"No, I didn't eat it," Luna said. "Your father planted it there."

"How?" The boy cocked his head to his side, but didn't stop staring.

"He planted it in her belly-button," Nox blurted before Luna began going into detail about how the planting really took place. "Yeah, they went to the baby shop and bought a baby seed and then Daddy planted it in her belly-button. Right, George?"

"Spot on," George said, but couldn't help but laughing at her panicked face. "And now it'll grow for several months before we can see him. Okay, kiddo?"

"No baby now?" Gideon said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Not yet," Luna said and went over to smooth back his hair. Neither Nox or George had real curls, but somehow the boy had got thick, unruly curls and cowlicks which tended to go in all different directions.

"Oh." Being satisfied with the answer, the boy wanted to be let down and trotted off to the sitting room.

"One happy big brother-to-be," George said and grabbed a piece of toast. "You wanted a talk with me, Nox?" he said through a mouthful while looking for a moderately clean cup for his coffee.

"I did?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, about Gideon and school." He found a cup and a spoon, filled the cup with the last of the coffee and added liberal amounts of sugar before stirring.

"Yeah, I did," she answered and shot a look at Fred, who just blinked innocently at her.

"You want him to go to a Muggle school," George said, not even pretending that it was a question, and she nodded. "I guess he's going to a Muggle school, then, at least until he starts Hogwarts. You got any idea of what school?"

"I've done some research –"

"How did I end up with the mental twin of Hermione?" Fred muttered, but grinned at her, this was probably one of the things worth doing a bit of research on, and Heaven knew he or George weren't going to do it.

"– and I've found some options," Nox finished. "Both schools that offer a good special education program on the side of the regular education, and schools solely for students with special needs. I've got some papers at the office, want me to nip up after them?"

"You might as well," George said, struggling to get a jam jar open. Luna shot a quick loosening charm at the lid and it was a near thing he was bathed in jam as it suddenly opened. Nox nodded again and shot out of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand.

"Why does she keep stuff like that in the office? Afraid we'll find it or something?" Fred said, sticking his finger in the jar of jam in George's hand and licked it off.

"You're her boyfriend and you can't even figure that one out?" George said sceptically.

"All three of us went to Hogwarts, and we do talk quite a lot about it at times, I understand if she was nervous about suggesting a Muggle school to us, and when Nox is nervous about something, she tries to hide it," Luna said, brushing crumbs off of the front of her shirt.

"She does?" Fred said, and George hoped he was joking, even if it didn't sound like it.

"Most people do," Luna said, giving him a look indicating he should stop acting like an idiot. "I think you should treat her better once in a while."

"I am treating her well!" Fred objected. "It's just our thing, you know, making fun of each other and stuff like that."

"Just make sure you don't cross the line," she advised. Fred looked at his twin, hoping for some back-up, but George was too busy staring out the window.

"It'll be a summer wedding, then," George said suddenly. "Good, I like summer. Except if we get a very warm day that turns dark robes into saunas."

"I'm not wearing a robe anyway," Fred objected. "I know it's your big day and all, but you're not getting me into one of those torture devices!"

"With the combined effort of Nox making you sleep on the couch and Mum's nagging I think I could make you show up in just about anything," George said and smirked. "I'd even get Charlie to wrestle them on you, if I feel like it."

"But you don't," Fred said and crossed his arms, mostly convinced his twin was just joking.

"Depends," George said airy as Nox entered again with a stack of brochures, pamphlets and single sheets of papers that almost towered her and left just an inch for her to peek over the top.

"Gideon's just five, right? He's not applying to be an astro-gnome or something," Fred said, eyeing the stack suspiciously.

"Astronaut," Nox corrected him automatically. "And I've written down a bit of a history on him, too, along with what medical notes might be useful when applying." She separated the stack in the middle and pulled out a thick file with the heading Gideon Weasley written in cursive on the front. George took this and flipped through it, his eyebrows raising more and more.

"What's the point of all this?" he asked after a moment. "Do they really need to know his blood type? And his father is 'impulsive, but loving.' Is that some sort of insult?"

"It's a fact," Nox answered. "And some of these schools aren't that easy to get accepted to."

"'His primary caregivers are his mother and his father's long-time girlfriend, Luna Lovegood'," Fred said in an astonished tone, reading over his twin's shoulder. "So me and George aren't good enough, are we?"

"Of course you are," Nox huffed, sorting through the pile of papers. "Gideon is just more comfortable with me and Luna."

"That's because you're women, you got that child caring thing," Fred argued. "We're all living together, we all have to deal with him, we should all be listed there. Well, George should, at least."

"'Due to his father running his own business he is away from home a lot'?" George almost screeched. "Nox, I'm sure you somehow got a good intention with that sentence, but you're away just as much as I am, if not more, no need to put all the blame on me."

"I'm not blaming anyone!" she answered, her voice growing a bit shrill. "I've put down the facts as I see them," she finished, consciously keeping her voice as normal as possible.

"Facts from a partial source is no longer facts," Luna said, flipping through a brochure. "I understand this means a lot to you, but what you are doing now isn't helping anyone."

"I'm not doing anything!" she objected, crossing her arms.

"Yes, you are," Luna said mildly and got up to put her hands on Nox's shoulders. "You want the best for Gideon, but you're afraid we, especially Fred and George, will object to sending our son away at such a young age."

"Send him away?" Nox said dumbfounded. "I didn't mean for him to start at a boarding school." Luna looked a bit taken aback, but shook it off to continue what she was going to say.

"You're still scared we will object to your decision and you've been angry at us for something we haven't done, which shines through in your portrayal of George," the blonde said gravely. "You got nothing to fear, we're open for new suggestions."

"I haven't been scared," Nox said gruffly, looking down at her feet. "And Fred just went on about Hogwarts when I suggested a Muggle school."

"I didn't go on and on about it," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "If anyone went on and on about something, it was you! You want the kid in a Muggle school, but you're terrified of sending him there because of something Ginny said. And it would help us a lot to figure out what's up with you if you told us what she said."

"It was nothing!" Nox protested, practically vibrating, then lost it as she shot a look at Fred's jeering face. "She said I should keep either Gideon or the two of you locked up, because you shouldn't be in contact with him, much less raising him! And while I was at it, why not kick out Luna?" She turned out of Luna's hands and went to stand with one hand supporting herself on the kitchen table, taking deep, shuddering breaths, leaving the three other blinking in disbelief.

"She said what?" George managed to say after a few moments. "She said _what?_" he thundered after another moment.

"And about another hundred things adding up to that I should leave child raising to people who know how to do it, like herself," Nox supplied bitterly.

"That little –" Fred seemed incapable of finding words strong enough and instead snorted and bolted for the door, but George caught his arm.

"Wait," George told his twin, then turned to Nox. "You're sure she... meant it like that?"

"Oh, by all means, take her side just because she's your sister," Nox barked back at him.

"I'm not, I'm just making sure," George said calmly, but was boiling under the surface. What had stung him the most was the idea that he wasn't worthy of seeing his son, combined with that Luna was apparently not good enough for his family.

"You're just making sure I'm not throwing a fit over nothing? Well, I appreciate the compliment," Nox answered acidly.

"George, quit being all diplomatic, this isn't the time," Fred said, having such a hard hold on his wand his knuckles were turning white.

"Oh, so we'll just stop by and beat the living daylight out of our little sister for something she might have said?" George answered and chewed his lip, torn between the insulting nature of what Ginny had apparently said and the doubt she had said anything at all. It didn't seem like her at all, growing up she had always looked up to the twins and they had had an okay relationship after growing up, too.

"No, you're not," Nox said firmly and ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe I misunderstood."

"Makes damn little difference to me," Fred said hotly. "You're not deaf, she have to have said something!"

"You're still not barging in there and doing God knows what!" she objected, taking hold of his wrists.

"She accused all of us of being bad parents, and I'm not supposed to do anything?" he roared and tried yanking out of her grip, but she just tightened it.

"You're not supposed to do anything stupid!" she countered at the same volume.

"Watch me!" He flung his arms wide, throwing off her hands and ran out the door, leaving the three other staring at it in a deafening silence.

"I'm not patching him up when he gets back," George muttered after a minute and sat down, burying his face in his hands. Luna went over and massaged his shoulders for a moment, then kissed the back of his head.

"I think Ginny is just confused," she said quietly and draped her arms around his chest. "She probably didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I don't think she's seen a child like Gideon before."

"What do you mean?" George asked quietly. "He's just a bit different, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with him. Or the way we're raising him."

"He's scared of everything, I bet she thinks it's because we don't love him," Nox said bitterly. She sat down opposite him and began sorting through her papers, distributing them in different piles.

"We do love him," George said in a hard tone and raised his head to see the uncomfortable look Nox sported. "What? Spill it before I break out the whip or something."

"It's just," Nox began, avoiding his eyes and squirming slightly, "what if it isn't enough that we love him? What if we're unintentionally screwing him up more than necessary?"

"And what if the sky catches on fire?" Luna said and gave her a tender smile. "We're doing our best with the guidance of the doctors, why shouldn't that be enough? You need to stop worrying about being good enough and realise that you already are." Nox blushed slightly, but wasn't much more comfortable.

"Listen, one thing is that you don't have any faith in yourself, but don't you have any faith in Luna, either?" George said and got the corner of her mouth to twitch. "All parents screw up their child a little bit, but as long as we're not trying to do so, how big can the damage be?"

"Thank you," Luna whispered in his ear, and he turned to her with a puzzled look. "For loving us." She stepped to the side of him and placed his hand on her belly. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then settled on a smile.

"Point is, you're acting a bit weird as of late," George said to Nox after a minute, not removing his hand from Luna's belly. "I understand what Ginny said stung you, but it's not like you to let things bother you that much, is it?"

"Just that time of month," she muttered back, her eyes on her papers. George wasn't fooled.

"No, it isn't. Fred changes around you then," he said and crossed his arms.

"I can't tell you what it is," she muttered, flipping through papers.

"You mean you _won't _tell us what it is."

"No, I _can't!_" She slammed down the papers and glared at him. "It's a case me and Caith are working on and I _can't. _I don't know if you've caught on, but I can't discuss an open case."

"Because you've signed some document that says you can't?" George pushed on, leering. "Come on, it's not like me or Luna are going to sell the information or anything."

"Fine!" She sat panting for a moment, her eyes nearly boring a hole through the table top. "Fine. We might be on the track of my father."

"Isn't he dead?" George said, making her squeeze her eyes together hard to keep in the tears. "I mean, that's what you've told us, that he's presumably dead."

"And still, Caithion would've known if he was," she said, just as a light knock on the door announced the arrival of the secretary.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked, eyeing the papers littering the table and not a few that had fluttered to the floor.

"Not really," Nox answered, supporting her head with her hand. "Anything urgent?"

"Maybe," he said and narrowed her eyes at her. "A word with you, please?" She sighed and was more than happy to leave the papers alone for a moment as she followed him out in the hall.

"You heard anything new?" she asked without preamble, leaning against the wall.

"You're letting the case get the better of you," he said even more bluntly, leaning in to peer down on her. "You're even thinner than usual and, unless I missed a memo, black bags under the eyes aren't in this season."

"I'm not letting the case get the better of me," she answered gruffly as he blew a puff of smoke in her face. "Stop that!"

"Not until you tell me what the matter is. You know the chance of finding Edward is extremely small, you have to let it go before it eats you up," he commanded.

"It's not eating me up!" she protested.

"Then what is?"

"It's just... everything," she answered meekly. "Gideon."

"What about him?"

"I don't think I'm suited to be a mother. I don't think I'm doing right by him," she confessed quietly. Caithion kept the hard look for a moment, then chuckled quietly. Then chuckled a bit louder, and was soon shaking with mirth. She was tempted to kick him in the shin, but didn't and instead waited until he stopped.

"God, this is unbelievable," he said at last, shaking his head.

"What is?" she said gruffly and almost shook off the hand he placed on her shoulder.

"Your father told me almost the exact same thing twenty-odd years ago," he answered and smiled half-tenderly.

"So?" Now she did shake off his hand and crossed her arms.

"So it doesn't matter at all how you think you're doing as a parent yourself, your kid still loves you unconditionally, " he said. "Or why else would you still be looking for your father when all evidence suggests he's dropped off the face of the earth."

"You know he's not dead," she said. "You would have known if he was."

"Nox," he said, putting his hand under her chin and making her look at him. "There's a lot of other ways to die, or at least stop being alive, than the kind I deal with. And even that kind of death isn't a fool-proof way to stop existing, just look at your boyfriend."

"What are you saying?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Just because I haven't heard of his death doesn't mean the father you know and love is out there in the mortal world," he said quietly and took a step back. "You have to let it go and cherish the memories you have of him. Just like your son would do if you went missing. That's why you have to make sure he has as many memories of you as possible." Coming from anyone else, it would have creeped Nox out, but she knew exactly what he meant. Their line of work wasn't the safest, and on the odd chance something should happen to her, she should at least leave her son with an impression of who she was, not who she wished she was.

"Thanks," she said quietly and the corner of her mouth tugged up. "I guess my head's been a bit crowded as of late."

"And that's the only thing you're rubbish at keeping organised, too, once it gets crowded," he said dryly just as someone arrived by Floo. Nox didn't have time to take in more than his torn shirt, black eye and slight limp before Fred pushed her back against the wall and delivered a bruising kiss, the metal taste of blood on his lips.

"I love you," he said urgently, having a vice-like grip on her head, his nails digging into her scalp, as he kissed her again, his body pressing against hers. "I love you!"

"Fred, what – _mmpff!_" He tried silencing her with his lips again, but she struggled against it and he let go, panting. "What the hell happened?"

"Nothing," he answered and crushed her against his chest in a hug.

"Nothing? You look like you've been in a war!" She could still taste his blood on her lips and heard his heart hammering beneath her ear.

"A small one. Family war," he answered and kissed her again, this time quick and not as hard.

"What did she do to you?" She grabbed his overarms and held him away enough to look up into his face. Apart from the black eye, the bridge of his nose was swollen, his lip had a small split and it looked like a tooth had been knocked askew.

"Don't worry, she looks worse," he answered and smiled, blinking several times as if he tried to get her into focus.

"Fred! She's your sister!"

"If I wanted to hear that speech, I'd gone to Mum," he said, sounding half-distracted.

"You've got a concussion, haven't you?" she said accusingly.

"Huh?"

"Come." She took hold of the sleeve of his t-shirt and dragged him into the bathroom. He sat down on the toilet lid and stared blankly at the wall while she found the first aid kit. "Does your head hurt?" she asked sternly.

"Yeah," he answered as she sat down on the floor and rummaged through the kit, which held a bit of both magical and Muggle first aid supplies. "Of course it does, she hurled a chair at me." Nox made a small noise in the back of her throat that sounded like _tcha! _and handed him a small blue bottle.

"Take a swallow of that, then get undressed." She took out bandages, Band Aids and an assortment of ointments as he slowly removed his shirt and jeans. He eyed the small bottle of potion for a moment, then pinched his nose shut as he took a swallow, but still made a face at the taste.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked after a moment, when she had laid out her supplies and were eyeing them as if she tried to figured out if anything was missing.

"You're the mad one," she muttered back. "You make the Mad Hatter look like he should run for Prime Minister." He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him with a sigh.

"I'm not saying I'm sorry, because I'm not," he told her. "And I think you kinda like it when I jump to your rescue."

"I don't like it when you come home looking like this," she said and began probing at his ribs where several purple marks were forming, making him grunt in pain.

"But it's okay that I defend your honour and all that?" he asked half-teasingly.

"Maybe," she answered and tried to hide her smile as she dipped her hand in a big jar of salve and rubbed it on his side. He closed his eyes and let the cooling ointment work, erasing the bruising and pain. She continued to do an inventory of him, smearing him in with Merlin knew what, stopping the bleeding the few places the skin had broke and taping it together, and sometimes pausing to read the instructions on a bottle or jar before applying liberal amounts.

"You'd make a good nurse," he remarked as she was poking at his nose, trying to determine if it was just a bruise or something more serious.

"What caused this?" she asked instead, pinching his nose shut.

"A good old-fashioned fist," he answered, sounding more than slightly nasal.

"She hit you?" Nox's eyes went round.

"No, Harry did," he answered happily. "He came home for his lunch break or something just as we were at our worst and tried to break us apart, but then decided he'd rather team up with his wife instead. That's when I remembered I prefer to be alive."

"Coward," she said, but bent down to kiss him. His arms went around her and he clung on to her, pushed her down on the floor and got a grip on her hair, holding her there while he ravished her mouth, desperate and eager.

"Please," he breathed in her ear, shaking with spent adrenaline and lust. "Please, I really need you."

"Fred, it's –" Her voice caught in her throat as she looked into his eyes, completely free of cockiness and jokes, just with a pure blue need for her to put him back together again. She yielded and held him like a little child, absolving him of any sins and knowing she needed to forgive him just as much as he needed to be forgiven.

It was fast and brutal, a purging and reassurance for them both, and afterwards they lay quietly on the tiles, staring up at the ceiling, both reassuring themselves they were still alive and all right.

"Do you remember when I said that they made a mistake with you and you didn't have any scary womanly powers?" he said after a while, turning his head to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"They made a mistake, all right," he said and smiled slightly. "They gave you more. You are the scariest woman I've ever met, and that includes your grandmother."

"I'm honoured," she answered dryly and they lapsed into another silence.

"This was rather nice. I should get into more fights," he said after another few minutes.

"No, you shouldn't," she answered and chuckled.

"But you did like it?"

"Yeah," she answered and smiled. "Seems a bit much trouble to go to, though, just for a shag."

"This wasn't just a shag," he said and rolled over on his side with a groan, his ribs weren't fully healed yet. "Right?"

"Right," she answered and reached out to take hold of his hand just as the door opened. Both George and Gideon stared at them, before the older covered his son's eyes with his hand.

"What's going on here?" George asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's the new sick bay," Fred answered and struggled to his feet. "The nurse is amazing!" Nox had grabbed her trousers and did her best to put them on as fast as possible, but the more she struggled the more they seemed to tangle, until she finally got both legs in and nearly ripped them in her hurry to pull them up.

"And now the patient is getting right into bed," she said, seeing Fred had to support himself on the sink not to fall over.

"Aye, aye, capt'n!" Fred made it out the door without any major incidents, but he was almost hugging the wall as he went down the hall.

"And you have the nerve to tell _me _off for not locking the door," George said, giving Nox a mock-hard look and crossing his arms. She didn't reply and instead brushed past him to make sure her patient made it as far as the bed.

**OoO**

After tucking Fred in, on his request, Nox went back to the kitchen, finding Caithion and Luna engaged in light chatter, Gideon curled up on her lap and George unusual quiet as he sat flipping through some of the school brochures. She didn't even have time to get a new cup of coffee before Luna turned to her.

"You've caused quite the turmoil today," she told Nox mildly and somehow manage to gesture at the child in his lap without moving a muscle.

"I know," Nox said and sighed. "But I wasn't alone about it. How are you doing?" She knelt down and took hold of Gideon's hand. He shot her a quick look, then squirmed closer to Luna.

"He's better now, but all the shouting wasn't nice," Luna said, repeating some of the few words they had got out of the boy when finding him curled up in a corner of the sitting room, his hands over his ears.

"But we're all done with that now, no more shouting," Nox told the boy as reassuringly as she managed. He gave her a short, penetrating hazel look and she swallowed hard. "You see, sometimes Mummy says stupid things and then Uncle Fred says more stupid things in return and we aren't very nice to each other, but we've made up again now."

"Stupid," the boy repeated sullenly.

"Yes, very stupid," she said. "But you don't have to be scared any more now." He didn't respond and she stood up again and looked helplessly from Luna to Caithion to George, none of which seemed inclined to help her out.

"Here, have a bagel," Caithion said at last and extracted a paper bag from his coat pocket. She gave him a queer look, he wasn't the type to normally bring food, but extracted one of the bagels, tore it in two and gave the boy one of the halves.

"Ka nice. Ka don't shout," the boy muttered, nibbling at the crust. Nox took a deep breath and turned her back on them in order to find herself a cup of coffee.

"Relax, he'll forgive you by the end of the day," Caithion said to her back and she let her shoulders drop. She had had a couple of moments when her attention hadn't been fully focused on Gideon the last few days, but she knew she would make up for them. Probably already had, when she came to think of it.

"Did you have any kind of idea what you were doing with this, or just hoarding away as much as possible?" George asked suddenly, holding a stack of papers in one hand and a couple of pamphlets in the other.

"I'm keeping every possibility open," she answered and sat down beside him, trying to assess how much of her organisation he had messed with and tried assembling the orderly stacks she had made again.

"Yeah, all over the country," he answered under his breath. "Let's keep to England and London first and foremost. It's not that I got anything against Inverness, it's just that it's the other end of Britain and probably cold as the Devil's backside." He dropped one of the pamphlets he had been holding down on the floor, hoping it would stay out of sight until they had reached a conclusion.

"I would have thought the Devil's backside was rather warm," Luna said. "Hell is supposed to be unbearable hot, and that's where he resides, isn't it?"

"Then I'll better pack my swim trunks," George answered absentmindedly, randomly picking up brochures and letting go of them again while Nox snapped them up again and placed them back where he had picked them up. "I can at least throw out the sweater I thought about bringing."

"You're not going to Hell," Luna said while slowly turning Gideon to face the table while he was busy making up his mind about the bagel and if it was worth eating it.

"I've been told I am plenty of times," George answered. "Nox, how long have you been collecting these things?"

"A while," she said and was happy to see he stopped disordering her papers.

"Since January," Caithion said, munching away at a bagel. At least he wasn't smoking.

"Papers," Gideon said, slamming his hand down on a stack of them. "Papers!"

"Very well observed," Nox said and swatted away George's hand as he reached for a similar heap. "We're trying to find a school for you."

"School?" The boy looked at the papers and his hand curled up, taking the top-most sheet with it and wrinkling it. Nox didn't say anything.

"You're a big boy now and big boys go to school to read and write and make friends and learn all kind of fun things," she continued mildly, hoping the tone of her voice subdued the fear she saw growing in his eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll go with you," Luna said, hugging him closer from behind.

"Loony go with me?" the boy said, craning his neck to get a glimpse of her.

"Of course I will!" she answered and kissed his hair. "And sometimes Daddy will go with you and sometimes Mummy and sometimes Uncle Fred."

"Ka go with me?" the boy asked, chewing his lip.

"Maybe," Caithion answered, giving Nox a look indicating there better be some major disaster involved if he had to step into the role of baby-sitter. She smiled back, it hadn't taken that much for him to take that role when she was growing up, even if he had pretended not to like it in the beginning.

"Where school?" the boy asked, looking down at a picture of a square building almost hidden by the trees and smiling children on the lawn in front of it.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Nox said as George got hold of some brochures and spread them out in front of himself, looking criticising at them. "Maybe you should go back to the sitting room while we do. Have you finished the jigsaw-puzzle with the knight on the horse?"

"Or maybe you could stay here and help us a bit, if you want to," Luna suggested. The boy chewed his lip again, but nodded after a moment and Nox figured he might as well, it was his future school they were discussing, after all.

It wasn't just a walk in the park, George firmly believed they should choose something as close to home as possible, and after getting a look of the nearest possible school, he wouldn't let go of it, despite that it didn't have a special education program beside an extra teacher, and Nox was forced to narrow her search first from all of England, then to the southern half, then just London. Luna did her work as judge of the pros and cons for each school, consulting Gideon now and then, while Caithion stayed quiet for the most part and just watched.

After one and a half hour they weren't much closer to a decision, even though the floor was littered with the brochures of the rejected schools and Nox excused herself to check on Fred. He was most likely doing okay, but she needed a break from the constant bickering with George and keeping her temper in check for Gideon's sake. She found her boyfriend spread-eagled on his back, taking up most of the bed and she wondered how there were every any room for her in it.

"How do you feel?" she asked after sitting down and nudging him. He grunted and opened his eyes, blinking at the light she had turned on when entering.

"Not too bad. Had a very strange dream. What did you give me?" He yawned before trying to get the pillow under his head again, it had slipped away to the side.

"Something for concussions," she answered. "What kind of strange dream?"

"I'd call it a fever dream, but I don't think I've got a temperature," he said and her hand went to his forehead at once. He was right, he was no warmer than the sleep would account for. "We were all in the kitchen, talking about something and then a giant octopus or something knocked on the door, and George let him in and we kept talking about whatever it was with it, then it grabbed me and George and kinda flung us around in the air. It was a lot like being on a broom. Then your father came in and tried getting the octopus to put us down, but it didn't listen and you just stood by the window, smoking. I think he was wearing a kilt."

"The octopus?" she asked, raising her brows.

"No, your father. The octopus was purple and wearing one of those one-eye glasses, you know..." He gestured at his eye, forming a ring with his fingers.

"A monocle," she said and smiled at him. "Why do you always dream of purple things?"

"I do?" He stretched and rolled over on his belly, folding his arms under his head to keep looking at her.

"Yeah, purple socks and cars, and now an octopus," she said and shrugged. "Seems like you dream of purple a lot."

"I don't think I do. Not a lot," he said, closing his eyes. "Maybe it's just that the dreams worth telling you got something purple in it? I once dreamt Gideon had purple hair, though, haven't told you that one."

"You're not exactly proving me wrong," she said and saw the corner of his mouth turn up. "Are you getting up now?"

"Do I have to?" he whined, but his smile widened.

"You don't have to, but your brother is driving me nuts," she answered and put a hand on his shoulder. It was surprisingly warm, but then again, the covers on their bed could keep a glacier warm. "He's already made up his mind about what school Gideon is going to."

"Well, then that's one more problem out of the way," Fred answered, muffled down in his forearm. "Except you don't agree with him." He lifted his head and gave her a tired look.

"It would just be nice to have your opinion on it, too," she said with a shrug.

"Merlin's beard, I've already fought one fight for you today," he answered and laughed quietly.

"I don't want you to fight my fights for me, I want you to help me."

"I have to brush off my armour and a bit of that stuff first, okay?" He laid his head on his arms again, but reached out to take hold of her hand a moment later. "Just say you have some work to do now and the school have to wait 'til tonight. Then I'll be up for helping you."

"She really gave you a good beating, didn't she?" Nox said and bent down to kiss his cheek.

"Ginny makes Mum look tame now," he muttered back, eyes closed. "You know I dreamt of you smoking?"

"Yeah?" She looked quizzically at him, but he didn't elaborate for another minute.

"You stink of the stuff," he said at last.

"Probably because of Caithion, he blew it right in my face earlier," she answered and stood up to leave.

"You taste of it, too," he said and cracked one eye open to look at her. "Unless he stuck his tongue down your throat –"

"Fine, I took one smoke!" she burst out, shuddering at the thought of kissing Caithion. "One measly cigarette to cope with facing you all with the school dilemma!"

"It's okay," he answered, sounding half-asleep. "Just don't let it be more, okay?"

"Okay," she answered and pulled the covers up over his shoulder. He was snoring by the time she closed the door.

**OoO**

Nox managed to make up an excuse to retreat to the office, and luckily Caithion backed her up half-enthusiastically. Both of them knew they didn't have any pressing work to do, but Luna and George let them go pretty easily, they were probably just as tired of discussing schools. But try as she might, Nox didn't manage to keep her eyes or mind on a paper for more than a few seconds and after five minutes her usually organised desk looked like a small tornado had swept over it.

"What's the matter with you?" Caithion asked at last, looking over the edge of the Daily Mail from last week he was reading mostly for the entertainment of seeing what people could get worked up over.

"Nothing," she answered, still skittish, and opened another file just to let go of it the moment after.

"Nothing?" He raised his eyebrows and put down the newspaper.

"Nothing," she muttered back, hiding her face behind her hair as bent over the file again, not seeing the words on the top-most paper.

"You should get a haircut," he said, leaning on his own desk with crossed arms. She gave a non-committal grunt. "Are you still worrying over Edward?" The way she hunched even more over her papers were answer enough, but after a moment she gave in.

"Fred had a dream," she began, then stopped and shook her head, no need to put much stock by that. But she was, she was hoping, and according to a small part of her rational brain, acting like a child.

"Yes, mortals do have an annoying habit of doing that," Caithion answered dryly.

"He dreamt of my father," Nox said quietly. "I just thought – never mind."

"You thought it might be some sort of sign?"

"He was wearing a kilt," Nox said, pulling her legs up in her chair and hugging her knees. "And we already have some leads that points towards the highlands in this case."

"Nox..." Surprisingly enough, Caithion's voice was soft and caring. "I know you miss your father, probably even more now that you are a parent yourself, but... the leads we have a very weak, and a dream is even weaker..." he grew quiet for a moment. "Fine, if it makes you happy, we'll take a trip to Scotland."

"Does it sounds like a good place to start in Fort William?" She didn't completely manage to mask her smile.

"You're wondering if that ice-cream parlour is still there, aren't you?" He tried to seem like he didn't approve of her attitude, but the gigantic grin that broke out on her face was too much, he had to smile back at her. Some of her fondest childhood memories were of her father taking her to an ice-cream parlour while they lived in Fort William, before her parents split up, and in hindsight she wasn't sure if it was the fact that the ice-cream was the best she had ever tasted, or that her father was just as excited to go there and they both left smeared with melting ice-cream from head to toes, that made the memories so clear. Her mother had been rather annoyed when they came home looking like they'd had a wrestling match in the parlour's freezer, until the day Edward managed to coax her into joining them. She had somehow managed not to wolf down the treat, but after that her fussing was more laced with understanding.

"It's as good as any place to start, isn't it? Maybe Luna wants to join us with Gideon." Nox's eyes got a bit of a dreamy look for a moment, before she shook her head. "Or maybe another time, I don't want them to get caught up in something."

"You know why you suggested bringing Luna and not the twins?" Caithion asked.

"Because the twins would get caught up in something for sure," she answered.

"No, because Luna is the safety you lost when your father went missing," he answered mildly. "And on the odd chance we should find Edward stuffing himself with ice-cream, she wouldn't direct his attention away from you, like the twins very possibly would."

"Stop analysing me," she barked, but didn't seem much bothered by it. "I'd like to take Gideon there someday, though."

Unknown to Nox, she was at that moment subject to a heavy discussion at the Burrow. Ginny sat at the kitchen table with a cup of strong tea between her hands and a throbbing black eye she had intentionally not Healed, while her mother's hair stood on end and her father did his best to keep her from loosing it completely.

"She's Edward's daughter!" Arthur shouted at last to be heard over his wife's ranting.

"So? Ginny is _your_ daughter and that little shrew has no reason to spread lies about her!" Molly countered.

"She hasn't!" Arthur said, sitting down again and taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. For some unknown reason Molly had turned her anger on Nox, not Fred, although he was the one who had attacked Ginny. "There was a misunderstanding."

"Mum," Ginny tried carefully, "I didn't mean to say anything hurtful and I don't think I did, but you know Gideon is a bit odd."

"So was Edward, and so is Nox," Arthur said with a shrug.

"Would you give Edward a rest?" Molly shrieked. "I'm sure you didn't say anything hurtful, dear," she told Ginny, sounding calmer.

"Then would you give Nox a rest?" Arthur asked. He hated arguing with his wife, it always gave him a headache and a feeling he should crawl under a rock and die as fast as possible. "Fred was the one who stormed in on Ginny, Fred was the one who acted as little as a gentleman as I've ever seen..." His heart sunk. He'd always known the twins were something of their own and didn't expect them to be well-behaved all the time, but this surpassed even anything he'd imagined in his wildest dreams and he couldn't hide that he was ashamed to be their father at the moment.

"And Nox was the one who got him worked up!" Molly said, fuming. "And I've done nothing but be kind to her after she got that bastard of a son."

"Listen," Arthur said, his voice stone hard and he had to work hard not to give into the urge of slapping his wife. "The child might have been born out of wedlock, but he's our grandson, and the grandson of a very dear friend of mine! I will not have anyone calling him a bastard!"

"Would you rather take the side of a friend you haven't seen for years than your own wife?" Molly sounded shocked, but the anger was already building up again. She didn't have time to unleash it before Arthur strode out the door and almost tripped over Charlie where he was sitting on the steps in front of the entrance.

"I think I'll stop by the twins later today," Charlie said conversational, lazily pulling up straws of grass. Arthur turned to him, already half-way across the yard.

"You think that's a good idea?" his father said carefully and shot a nervous look towards the kitchen window, where Molly could faintly be seen sitting beside her daughter and comforting her.

"Maybe it's all a misunderstanding," Charlie said and shrugged. "I've learned not to take Mum's word about everything, at least not when she's like that."

"Just remember she's not always wrong, and that you're her son," Arthur said before setting off towards the road again. He didn't have any particular destination in mind, he just needed to walk off his anger and the growing regret, maybe he shouldn't have taken Nox's side just because she was Edward's daughter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: No, I have no idea why Nox is going on about her father. Please tell me if that sex scene worked (yes, it was a sex scene), and thanks to Absinthe-ToxicityNoxen for inspiring Fred's dream. If I ever get around to writing more of this, you might have inspired more.**


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